2 Chronicles 24

1 Joash was seven years old when he had begun to reign. And he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zibiah, from Beersheba.

Joash was seven years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba [city].

2 And he did what is good before the Lord during all the days of Jehoiada, the priest.

Joash did what pleased Yahweh as long as Jehoiada was [the Supreme] Priest.

3 Now Jehoiada gave to him two wives, from whom he conceived sons and daughters.

Jehoiada chose two women to be Joash’s wives. And they bore Joash sons and daughters.

4 After these things, it pleased Joash to repair the house of the Lord.

Some years later, Joash decided that the temple should be repaired.

5 And he gathered together the priests and Levites, and he said to them: “Go out to the cities of Judah, and collect from all of Israel money to repair the surfaces of the temple of your God, throughout each year. And do this promptly.” But the Levites acted negligently.

He summoned the priests and other descendants of Levi and said to them, “Go to the towns in Judah and collect from the people the tax money that they are required to pay each year, and use that money to pay for repairing the temple. Do it immediately.” But the descendants of Levi did not do it immediately.

6 And the king summoned Jehoiada, the leader, and he said to him: “Why was there no concern with you, so that you would compel the Levites to bring, from Judah and from Jerusalem, the money that was appointed by Moses, the servant of the Lord, so as to bring it, from the entire multitude of Israel, to the tabernacle of the testimony?

So the king summoned Jehoiada and said to him, “Why have you not required the descendants of Levi to bring to Jerusalem from various places in Judah the annual/yearly tax that Moses said that the people of Judah must pay, for taking care of the Sacred Tent?”

7 For that very impious woman Athaliah and her sons have destroyed the house of God, and they have adorned the shrine of Baal from all the things that had been sanctified in the temple of the Lord.”

[The temple needed to be repaired] because the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had entered into the temple [and had wrecked some of the things], and had also used some of the sacred items that were in it for [the worship of] Baal.

8 Therefore, the king instructed, and they made an ark. And they placed it beside the gate of the house of the Lord, on the outside.

So, obeying what the king commanded, the descendants of Levi made a chest and placed it outside the temple, at one of the entrances.

9 And they proclaimed, in Judah and Jerusalem, that each one should bring to the Lord the money that Moses, the servant of God, appointed in the desert, concerning all of Israel.

Then the king sent letters everywhere in Judah, requesting everyone to bring their tax money to the temple, like Moses had required the Israeli people to do [when they were] in the desert.

10 And all the leaders and all the people rejoiced. And upon entering, they together took and placed so much into the ark of the Lord that it was filled.

All the officials and the other people [agreed, and they] brought their contributions gladly. They put the money into the chest until it was full.

11 And when it was time for them to bring the ark before the king by the hands of the Levites, for they saw that there was much money, the scribe of the king, and the one whom the high priest had appointed, entered. And they poured out the money that was in the ark. Then they carried the ark back to its place. And they did this on each day. And an immense sum of money was gathered.

Whenever the descendants of Levi brought the chest to the king’s officials, and they saw that there was a lot of money in it, the king’s secretary and the assistant to the [Supreme] Priest would take all the money from the chest, and then put the chest back in its place. They did this frequently, and they collected a huge amount of money.

12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who were in charge of the works of the house of the Lord. Then with it they hired hewers of stone, and artisans of every kind, so that they might repair the house of the Lord, and also so that the works of iron and of brass, which had begun to fall, would be reinforced.

The king and Jehoiada gave the money to the men who were supervising the work of repairing the temple. Those men hired stoneworkers and carpenters to repair the temple. They also hired men who worked with iron and bronze to repair things in the temple [that were broken].

13 And those who were hired were working industriously. And the breach in the walls was healed by their hands. And they returned the house of the Lord to a pristine state. And they caused it stand firm.

The men who did the repair work worked hard, and the work of repairing the temple progressed. They rebuilt the temple so that it was like it was originally, and they even made it stronger.

14 And when they had completed all the works, they brought the remaining part of the money before the king and Jehoiada. And from it, the vessels of the temple were made, for the ministry and for the holocausts, including bowls and other vessels of gold and silver. And holocausts were being offered in the house of the Lord continually, during all the days of Jehoiada.

When they had finished the repair work, they brought to the king and to Jehoiada the money that they had not used for the repairs. That money was used to make things to use for offering the sacrifices that were completely burned [on the altar], and to make bowls and other gold and silver things for the temple. As long as Joash lived, the people continually brought to the temple sacrifices that were to be completely burned on the altar.

15 But Jehoiada was old and full of days. And he died when he was one hundred thirty years old.

Jehoiada lived to become very old. He died when he was 130 years old.

16 And they buried him in the City of David, with the kings, because he had done good to Israel and to his house.

He was buried where the kings had been buried, in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. [He was buried there] because of the good things that he had done in Judah for God and for God’s temple.

17 Then, after Jehoiada passed away, the leaders of Judah entered and reverenced the king. And he was enticed by their obsequiousness, and so he acquiesced to them.

After Jehoiada died, the leaders of Judah went to Joash, bowed in front of him, and persuaded him to do what they wanted.

18 And they abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and they served sacred groves and graven images. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this sin.

So they and the other people stopped worshiping at the temple, and they started worshiping the poles dedicated to [the goddess] Asherah and other idols. Because of their doing those sinful things, God was very angry with the people of Jerusalem and [with the people in other places in] Judah.

19 And he sent prophets to them, so that they might return to the Lord. And though they were offering testimony, they were not willing to listen to them.

Although Yahweh sent prophets to persuade them to return to him, and although the prophets told them about the evil things that they had done, the people would not pay attention.

20 And so the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest. And he stood in the sight of the people, and he said to them: “Thus says the Lord God: Why have you transgressed the precept of the Lord, though it was not to your benefit, and why have you abandoned the Lord, so that he would then abandon you?”

Then God’s Spirit came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the [Supreme] Priest. He stood up front of the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why are you disobeying what I, Yahweh, have commanded? You have abandoned me, so I will abandon you.’”

21 And gathering together against him, they stoned him, beside the place of the king, in the atrium of the house of the Lord.

But the people planned to kill Zechariah. And the king joined them in doing it. The people killed Zechariah by throwing stones at him in the temple courtyard.

22 And king Joash did not remember the mercy with which Jehoiada, his father, had treated him; instead he put to death his son. And as he was dying, he said: “May the Lord see and take account.”

King Joash had forgotten about how Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had been kind to him. That’s why he gave orders for the people to kill Jehoiada’s son Zechariah, who said as he was dying, “I hope that Yahweh will see [what you are doing to me] and punish [you for doing it].”

23 And when a year had turned, the army of Syria ascended against him. And they went to Judah and Jerusalem. And they put to death all the leaders of the people. And they sent all the spoils to the king of Damascus.

Near the end of that year (OR, early in the following year), the army of Syria marched to attack [the army of] Joash. They invaded Judah and attacked Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They [seized many valuable things and] sent them to their king in Damascus, [their capital city.]

24 And although certainly there had arrived a very small number of Syrians, the Lord delivered into their hands an immense multitude. For they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. Also, against Joash they executed disgraceful judgments.

The army of Syria [that came to Judah] was very small, but Yahweh allowed them to defeat the large army of Judah, because he was punishing Joash and the other people of Judah for having abandoned him, the God whom their ancestors worshiped.

25 And upon departing, they left him greatly debilitated. Then his servants rose up against him, in vengeance for the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest. And they killed him on his bed, and he died. And they buried him in the City of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings.

Before the battle ended, Joash was severely wounded. Then his officials decided to kill him for murdering Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the [Supreme] Priest. They killed him while he was in his bed. He was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’, but they did not bury him in the place where the other kings had been buried.

26 Truly, those who ambushed him were Zabad, the son of an Ammonite woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of a Moabite woman named Shimrith.

Those who conspired to kill him were Zabad the son of Shimeath, who was a woman from the Ammon [people-group], and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith, who was a woman from the Moab [people-group].

27 But concerning his sons, and the sum of money that had been amassed under him, and the repairing of the house of God, these things have been written more diligently in the book of kings. Then his son, Amaziah, reigned in his place.

An account of the things that were done by the sons of Joash and the many prophecies about Joash and what he did to repair the temple are written in the scroll called ‘the History of the Kings [of Judah and Israel]’. Then after Joash died, Amaziah his son became the king.