2 Chronicles 24
24
Joash Rebuilds the Temple
1Joash was seven years old when he became king. He ruled 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah. Zibiah was from the town of Beersheba. 2Joash did right in front of the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest was living. 3Jehoiada chose two wives for Joash. Joash had sons and daughters.
4Then later on, Joash decided to rebuild the Lord’s Temple. 5Joash called the priests and the Levites together. He said to them, “Go out to the towns of Judah and gather the money all the Israelites pay every year. Use that money to rebuild your God’s Temple. Hurry and do this.” But the Levites didn’t hurry.
6So King Joash called Jehoiada the leading priest. The king said, “Jehoiada, why haven’t you made the Levites bring in the tax money from Judah and Jerusalem? Moses, the Lord’s servant, and the Israelites used that tax money for the Tent of the Agreement.”
7In the past, Athaliah’s sons broke into God’s Temple and used the holy things in the Lord’s Temple for their worship of the Baal gods. Athaliah was a very wicked woman.
8King Joash gave a command for a box to be made and put outside the gate at the Lord’s Temple. 9Then the Levites made an announcement in Judah and Jerusalem. They told the people to bring in the tax money for the Lord. That tax money is what Moses the servant of God had required the Israelites to give while they were in the desert. 10All the leaders and the people were happy. They brought their money and put it in the box. They continued giving until the box was full. 11Then the Levites would take the box to the king’s officials. They saw that the box was full of money. The king’s secretary and the leading priest’s officer came and took the money out of the box. Then they took the box back to its place again. They did this often and gathered much money. 12Then King Joash and Jehoiada gave the money to the people who worked on the Lord’s Temple. And the people who worked on the Lord’s Temple hired skilled woodcarvers and carpenters to rebuild the Lord’s Temple. They also hired workers who knew how to work with iron and bronze to rebuild the Lord’s Temple.
13The men who supervised the work were very faithful. The work to rebuild the Temple was successful. They built God’s Temple the way it was before and they made it stronger. 14When the workers finished, they brought the money that was left to King Joash and Jehoiada. They used that money to make things for the Lord’s Temple. These things were used for the service in the Temple and for offering burnt offerings. They also made bowls and other things from gold and silver. The priests offered burnt offerings in the Lord’s Temple every day while Jehoiada was alive.
15Jehoiada became old. He had a very long life, and he died when he was 130 years old. 16The people buried Jehoiada in the City of David where the kings are buried. The people buried Jehoiada there because in his life he did much good in Israel for God and for God’s Temple.
17After Jehoiada died, the leaders of Judah came and bowed to King Joash. The king listened to the leaders. 18They all stopped worshiping at the Temple of the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped. Instead, they started worshiping Asherah poles and other idols. Because they sinned in this way, God was angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem. 19God sent prophets to the people to bring them back to the Lord. The prophets warned them, but they refused to listen.
20The Spirit of God filled Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood in front of the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you people refuse to obey the Lord’s commands? You will not be successful. You have left the Lord. So he has also left you!’”
21But the people made plans against Zechariah. The king commanded the people to kill Zechariah, so they threw rocks at him until he was dead. The people did this in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. 22Joash the king didn’t remember Jehoiada’s kindness to him. Jehoiada was Zechariah’s father. But Joash killed Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son. Before Zechariah died, he said, “May the Lord see what you are doing and punish you!”
23At the end of the year, the Aramean army came against Joash. They attacked Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the valuable things to the king of Damascus. 24The Aramean army came with only a small group of men, but the Lord let them defeat the much larger army of Judah. This was a punishment for Joash because the people of Judah had left the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped. 25When the Arameans left Joash, he was badly wounded. His own servants made plans against him. They did this because Joash killed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest. The servants killed Joash on his own bed. After he died, the people buried him in the City of David, but not in the place where the kings are buried.
26These are the servants who made plans against Joash: Zabad and Jehozabad. Zabad’s mother was Shimeath, a woman from Ammon. And Jehozabad’s mother was Shimrith from Moab. 27The story about Joash’s sons, the great prophecies against him, and how he rebuilt God’s Temple are written in the book, Commentary on the Kings. Joash’s son Amaziah became the new king after him.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
2 Chronicles 24
24
Joash Repairs the Temple
1 # For ver. 1-14, see 2 Kgs. 11:21–12:15 Joash#24:1 Spelled Jehoash in 2 Kings 12:1 was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2#[ch. 26:5]And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.
4After this Joash #[1 Chr. 22:7] decided to #ver. 12restore the house of the Lord. 5And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of #See ch. 21:2Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. 6So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem #See Ex. 30:12-16 the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for #See Num. 17:7, 8the tent of testimony?” 7For #[ch. 21:17] the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also used all #[1 Kgs. 15:15]the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.
8So the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. 9And #[Ezra 1:1] proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord #[See ver. 6 above]the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. 10And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.#24:10 Or until it was full 11And whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king’s secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place. Thus they did day after day, and collected money in abundance. 12And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. 13So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it. 14And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and with it #[2 Kgs. 12:13]were made utensils for the house of the Lord, both for the service and for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of Jehoiada.
15But Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and died. He was 130 years old at his death. 16And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.
17Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served #See Deut. 16:21 the Asherim and the idols. And #ch. 19:2, 10; 28:11, 13; 29:8; 32:25wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. 19#Jer. 25:4; [Matt. 23:34; Luke 11:49]; See ch. 36:15 Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. #Neh. 13:15, 21These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.
Joash’s Treachery
20 # ch. 15:1; 20:14 Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah #[Matt. 23:35] the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, #[Num. 14:41] ‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? #ch. 15:2Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” 21But #[Neh. 9:26] they conspired against him, #Matt. 23:35; Luke 11:51and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. 22Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see #[Gen. 9:5]and avenge!”#24:22 Or and require it
Joash Assassinated
23At the end of the year #[2 Kgs. 12:17, 18]the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. 24Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, #Isa. 30:17; [Lev. 26:8, 36, 37] the Lord delivered into their hand a very great army, #[See ver. 20 above] because Judah#24:24 Hebrew they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. Thus they #[ch. 22:8]executed judgment on Joash.
25When they had departed from him, leaving him #[Deut. 28:35] severely wounded, #For ver. 25-27, see 2 Kgs. 12:20, 21 his servants conspired against him because of the blood of #[ver. 21, 22] the son#24:25 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, #[ch. 21:20; 28:27]but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26Those who conspired against him were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite. 27Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of #ver. 12 the rebuilding#24:27 Hebrew founding of the house of God are written in the #ch. 13:22Story#24:27 Or Exposition of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
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