2 Chronicles 24
24
King Joash of Judah
(2 Kings 12.1-16)
1Joash was only 7 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled 40 years from Jerusalem. His mother Zibiah was from the town of Beersheba.
2While Jehoiada the priest was alive, Joash obeyed the Lord by doing right. 3Jehoiada even chose two women for Joash to marry so he could have a family.
4Some time later, Joash decided it was time to repair the temple. 5He called together the priests and Levites and said, “Go everywhere in Judah and collect the annual tax from the people. I want this done at once—we need that money to repair the temple.”
But the Levites were in no hurry to follow the king's orders. 6#Ex 30.11-16. So he sent for Jehoiada the high priest and asked, “Why didn't you send the Levites to collect the taxes? The Lord's servant Moses and the people agreed long ago that this tax would be collected and used to pay for the upkeep of the sacred tent. 7And now we need it to repair the temple because the sons of that evil woman Athaliah came in and wrecked it. They even used some of the sacred objects to worship the god Baal.”
8Joash gave orders for a wooden box to be made and had it placed outside, near the gate of the temple. 9He then sent letters everywhere in Judah and Jerusalem, asking everyone to bring their taxes to the temple, just as Moses had required their ancestors to do.
10The people and their leaders agreed, and they brought their money to Jerusalem and placed it in the box. 11Each day, after the Levites took the box into the temple, the king's secretary and the high priest's assistant would dump out the money and count it. Then the empty box would be taken back outside.
This happened day after day, and soon a large amount of money was collected. 12Joash and Jehoiada turned the money over to the men who were supervising the repairs to the temple. They used the money to hire stonecutters, carpenters, and experts in working with iron and bronze.
13These workers went right to work repairing the temple, and when they were finished, it looked as good as new. 14They did not use all the tax money for the repairs, so the rest of it was handed over to Joash and Jehoiada, who then used it to make dishes and other gold and silver objects for the temple.
Sacrifices to please the Lord#24.14 Sacrifices to please the Lord: See the note at 1.6. were offered regularly in the temple for as long as Jehoiada lived. 15He died at the ripe old age of 130 years, 16and he was buried in the royal tombs in Jerusalem, because he had done so much good for the people of Israel, for God, and for the temple.
Joash Turns Away from the Lord
17After the death of Jehoiada the priest, the leaders of Judah went to Joash and talked him into doing what they wanted. 18The people of Judah soon stopped worshiping in the temple of the Lord God and started worshiping idols and the symbols of the goddess Asherah. These sinful things made the Lord God angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, 19but he still sent prophets who warned them to turn back to him. The people refused to listen.
20 #
Mt 23.35; Lk 11.51. God's Spirit spoke to Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, and Zechariah told everyone that God was saying: “Why are you disobeying me and my laws? This will only bring punishment! You have deserted me, so now I will desert you.”
21-22King Joash forgot that Zechariah's father had always been a loyal friend. So when the people of Judah plotted to kill Zechariah, Joash joined them and gave orders for them to stone him to death in the courtyard of the temple. As Zechariah was dying, he said, “I pray that the Lord will see this and punish all of you.”
Joash Is Killed
23In the spring of the following year, the Syrian army invaded Judah and Jerusalem, killing all of the nation's leaders. They collected everything of value that belonged to the people and took it back to their king in Damascus. 24The Syrian army was very small, but the Lord let them defeat Judah's large army, because he was punishing Joash and the people of Judah for turning away from him.
25-26Joash was severely wounded during the battle, and as soon as the Syrians left Judah, two of his officials, Zabad and Jehozabad,#24.25,26 Zabad and Jehozabad: Hebrew “Zabad son of Shimeath from Ammon and Jehozabad son of Shimrith from Moab.” decided to revenge the death of Zechariah. They plotted and killed Joash while he was in bed, recovering from his wounds. Joash was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal tombs. 27The History of the Kings also tells more about the sons of Joash, what the prophets said about him, and how he repaired the temple. Amaziah son of Joash became king after his father's death.
Currently Selected:
2 Chronicles 24: CEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
2 Chronicles 24
24
2 Chronicles 24
1¶ Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
2And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada, the priest.
3And Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he begat sons and daughters.
4And it came to pass after this that Joash desired to repair the house of the Lord.
5And he gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and be diligent in this matter. However the Levites were not diligent.
6Therefore the king called for Jehoiada, the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem unto the tabernacle of the testimony the collection, according to the commandment of Moses, the slave of the Lord and of the congregation of Israel?
7For the wicked woman, Athaliah, and her sons had broken up the house of God, and they had also bestowed all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord upon Baalim.
8And at the king’s commandment they made an ark and set it outside at the gate of the house of the Lord.
9And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring in to the Lord the collection that Moses the slave of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.
10And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought in and cast into the ark until they had fulfilled their duty.
11Now it came to pass, that at what time the ark was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the ark and took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance.
12And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those that did the work of the service of the house of the Lord and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord and also those that wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord.
13So the workmen wrought, and by their hands the work was done, and they restored the house of God and strengthened it.
14And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, of which they made vessels for the house of the Lord, vessels to minister and to offer with, and spoons and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.
15¶ But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.
16And they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house.
17Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and worshipped the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.
18And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their guilt.
19Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the Lord, and they testified against them, but they would not give ear.
20And the Spirit of God clothed himself in Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, who being over the people, said unto them, Thus hath God said, Why do ye transgress the commandments of the Lord? Ye shall not prosper in this; for because ye have forsaken the Lord, he shall also forsake you.
21And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.
22Thus Joash, the king, did not remember the mercy which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him but slew his son; who said when he died, The Lord look upon it and require it.
23And at the end of the year, the host of Syria came up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.
24For even though the army of the Syrians had come with a small company of men, the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgments against Joash.
25And when they were departed from him (for they left him in great diseases), his own slaves conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada, the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings.
26Those that conspired against him were Zabad, the son of Shimeath, an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith, a Moabitess.
27Now concerning his sons, and of the multiplication that he did of the taxes and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International