1 Ioash was seuen yere olde, when he began to reigne, and he reigned fourty yeere in Ierusalem: and his mothers name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. 2 And Ioash did vprightly in the sight of the Lord, all the dayes of Iehoiada the Priest. 3 And Iehoiada tooke him two wiues, and he begate sonnes and daughters. 4 And afterward it came into Ioash mind, to renew the house of the Lord. 5 And he assembled the Priests and the Leuites, and said to them, Goe out vnto the cities of Iudah, and gather of all Israel money to repaire the house of your God, from yeere to yeere, and haste the thing: but the Leuites hasted not. 6 Therefore the King called Iehoiada, the chiefe, and said vnto him, Why hast thou not required of the Leuites to bring in out of Iudah and Ierusalem the taxe of Moses the seruant of the Lord, and of the Congregation of Israel, for the Tabernacle of the testimonie? 7 For wicked Athaliah, and her children brake vp the house of God: and all the things that were dedicate for the house of the Lord, did they bestowe vpon Baalim. 8 Therefore the King commanded, and they made a chest, and set it at the gate of the house of the Lord without. 9 And they made proclamation thorow Iudah and Ierusalem, to bring vnto the Lord the taxe of Moses the seruant of God, layde vpon Israel in the wildernesse. 10 And all the princes and all the people reioyced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, vntill they had finished. 11 And when it was time, they brought the chest vnto the Kings officer by the hand of the Leuites: and when they saw that there was much siluer, then the Kings Scribe (and one appoynted by the hie Priest) came and emptied the chest, and tooke it, and caried it to his place againe: thus they did day by day, and gathered siluer in abundance. 12 And the King and Iehoiada gaue it to such as did the labour and worke in the house of the Lord, and hyred masons and carpenters to repayre the house of the Lord: they gaue it also to workers of yron and brasse, to repayre the house of the Lord. 13 So the workemen wrought, and the worke amended through their hands: and they restored the house of God to his state, and strengthened it. 14 And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the siluer before the King and Iehoiada, and he made thereof vessels for the house of the Lord, euen vessels to minister, both morters and incense cuppes, and vessels of golde, and of siluer: and they offred burnt offrings in the house of the Lord continually all the dayes of Iehoiada. 15 But Iehoiada waxed olde, and was ful of dayes and dyed. An hundreth and thirtie yeere olde was he when he dyed. 16 And they buried him in the citie of Dauid with the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house. 17 And after the death of Iehoiada, came the princes of Iudah, and did reuerence to the King, and the King hearkened vnto them. 18 And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and serued groues and idoles: and wrath came vpon Iudah and Ierusalem, because of this their trespasse. 19 And God sent Prophets amog the, to bring them againe vnto the Lord: and they made protestation among them, but they would not heare. 20 And the Spirit of God came vpon Zechariah the sonne of Iehoiada the Priest, which stoode aboue the people, and sayde vnto them, Thus sayth God, Why transgresse ye the commandements of the Lord? surely ye shall not prosper: because ye haue forsaken the Lord, he also hath forsaken you. 21 Then they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandement of the King, in the court of the house of the Lord. 22 Thus Ioash the King remembred not the kindnesse which Iehoiada his father had done to him, but slewe his sonne. And when he dyed, he sayd, The Lord looke vpon it, and require it. 23 And when the yeere was out, the host of Aram came vp against him, and they came against Iudah and Ierusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoyle of them vnto the King of Damascus. 24 Though the armie of Aram came with a small company of men, yet the Lord deliuered a very great armie into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers: and they gaue sentence against Ioash. 25 And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases) his owne seruants conspired against him for the blood of the children of Iehoiada the Priest, and slewe him on his bed, and he dyed, and they buryed him in the citie of Dauid: but they buryed him not in the sepulchres of the Kings. 26 And these are they that conspired against him, Zabad the sonne of Shimrath an Ammonitesse, and Iehozabad the sonne of Shimrith a Moabitesse. 27 But his sonnes, and the summe of the taxe gathered by him, and the foundation of the house of God, behold, they are written in the storie of the booke of the Kings. And Amaziah his sonne reigned in his steade.
King Joash of Judah
(2 Kings 12.1-16)1 Joash became king of Judah at the age of seven, and he ruled in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother was Zibiah from the city of Beersheba. 2 He did what was pleasing to the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. 3 Jehoiada chose two wives for King Joash, and they bore him sons and daughters.
4 After he had been king for a while, Joash decided to have the Temple repaired. 5 He ordered the priests and the Levites to go to the cities of Judah and collect from all the people enough money to make the annual repairs on the Temple. He told them to act promptly, but the Levites delayed, 6 so he called in Jehoiada, their leader, and demanded, “Why haven't you seen to it that the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax which Moses, the servant of the Lord, required the people to pay for support of the Tent of the Lord's presence?”
( 7 The followers of Athaliah, that corrupt woman, had damaged the Temple and had used many of the sacred objects in the worship of Baal.)
8 The king ordered the Levites to make a box for contributions and to place it at the Temple gate. 9 They sent word throughout Jerusalem and Judah for everyone to bring to the Lord the tax which Moses, God's servant, had first collected in the wilderness. 10 This pleased the people and their leaders, and they brought their tax money and filled the box with it. 11 Every day the Levites would take the box to the royal official who was in charge of it. Whenever it was full, the royal secretary and the High Priest's representative would take the money out and return the box to its place. And so they collected a large sum of money.
12 The king and Jehoiada would give the money to those who were in charge of repairing the Temple, and they hired stonemasons, carpenters, and metalworkers to make the repairs. 13 All of them worked hard, and they restored the Temple to its original condition, as solid as ever. 14 When the repairs were finished, the remaining gold and silver was given to the king and Jehoiada, who used it to have bowls and other utensils made for the Temple.
Jehoiada's Policies Are Reversed
As long as Jehoiada was alive, sacrifices were offered regularly at the Temple. 15 After reaching the very old age of a hundred and thirty, he died. 16 They buried him in the royal tombs in David's City in recognition of the service he had done for the people of Israel, for God, and for the Temple.
17 But once Jehoiada was dead, the leaders of Judah persuaded King Joash to listen to them instead. 18 And so the people stopped worshiping in the Temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and began to worship idols and the images of the goddess Asherah. Their guilt for these sins brought the Lord's anger on Judah and Jerusalem. 19 The Lord sent prophets to warn them to return to him, but the people refused to listen. 20 Then the spirit of God took control of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood where the people could see him and called out, “The Lord God asks why you have disobeyed his commands and are bringing disaster on yourselves! You abandoned him, so he has abandoned you!” 21 King Joash joined in a conspiracy against Zechariah, and on the king's orders the people stoned Zechariah in the Temple courtyard. 22 The king forgot about the loyal service that Zechariah's father Jehoiada had given him, and he had Zechariah killed. As Zechariah was dying, he called out, “May the Lord see what you are doing and punish you!”
The End of Joash's Reign
23 When autumn came that year, the Syrian army attacked Judah and Jerusalem, killed all the leaders, and took large amounts of loot back to Damascus. 24 The Syrian army was small, but the Lord let them defeat a much larger Judean army because the people had abandoned him, the Lord God of their ancestors. In this way King Joash was punished. 25 He was severely wounded, and when the enemy withdrew, two of his officials plotted against him and killed him in his bed to avenge the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. He was buried in David's City, but not in the royal tombs. ( 26 Those who plotted against him were Zabad, the son of an Ammonite woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of a Moabite woman named Shimrith.) 27 The Commentary on the Book of Kings contains the stories of the sons of Joash, the prophecies spoken against him, and the record of how he rebuilt the Temple. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.