CHAPTER 24
1 Joash was of seven years, when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.
2 And he did that, that was good before the Lord, in all the days of Jehoiada, the priest.
3 And Joash took two wives, of which he begat sons and daughters.
4 And after which things it pleased Joash to repair the house of the Lord.
5 And he gathered together [the] priests and deacons [or Levites], and said to them, Go ye out to the cities of Judah, and gather ye of all Israel money, to the repairing of the temple of your Lord God, by each year; and do ye this thing hastily. Certainly the deacons did this thing negligently.
6 And the king called Jehoiada, the prince of priests, and said to him, Why was it not a charge to thee, to constrain the deacons [or Levites] to bring in money of Judah and of Jerusalem, which money was ordained of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that all the multitude of Israel should bring it into the tabernacle of witnessing?
7 For the wicked woman Athaliah, and her sons, destroyed the house of God; and of all the things, that were hallowed to the temple of the Lord, they adorned the temple of Baalim.
8 Therefore the king commanded, and they made an ark, and setted [or put] it beside the gate of the House of the Lord withoutforth.
9 And it was preached in Judah and Jerusalem, that each man should bring to the Lord the price, that Moses, the servant of God, ordained upon all Israel, in desert.
10 And all the princes and all the people were glad, and they entered, and brought, and sent freely their gifts into the ark of the Lord, so that it was filled with treasure.
11 And when it was time, that they should bear the ark before the king’s officials by the hands of deacons [or Levites], for they saw much money, the clerk of the king entered, and he whom the first, or chief, priest had ordained, and they poured out the money, that was in the ark; and they bare again the ark to his place,. And so they did by all days, and money without number was gathered together;
12 which the king and Jehoiada gave to them that were sovereigns of the works of the house of the Lord. And they hired thereof cutters of stones, and craftsmen of all works, that they should repair the house of the Lord; also they hired smiths of iron, and of brass, that that thing should be underset, that began to fall.
13 They that wrought did craftily, and the crazing of the walls was stopped by the hands of them; and they raised the house of the Lord into the former state, and made it to stand steadfastly.
14 And when they had fulfilled all the works, they brought before the king and Jehoiada the tother part of the money, of which money vessels were made into the service of the temple, and to burnt sacrifices,; also vials, or basins, and other vessels of gold and of silver were made thereof. And burnt sacrifices were offered in the house of the Lord continually, in all the days of Jehoiada.
15 And Jehoiada full of days waxed eld, and he was dead, when he was of an hundred years and thirty;
16 and they buried him in the city of David with kings; for he had done good with Israel, for God, and with his house.
17 But after that Jehoiada died, the princes of Judah entered, and worship-ped the king, which was flattered with their services, and assented to them.
18 And they forsook the temple of the Lord God of their fathers, and served idols in woods, and graven images; and the ire of the Lord was made against Judah and Jerusalem for this sin.
19 And he sent to them prophets, that they should turn again to the Lord; the which prophets’ witnessing, they would not hear.
20 Then the Spirit of the Lord clothed, or environed, Zechariah, the priest, the son of Jehoiada; and he stood in the sight of the people, and said to them, The Lord saith these things, Why break ye the commandment of the Lord, which thing shall not profit to you, and ye have forsaken the Lord, that he should forsake you?
21 Which were gathered together against him, and casted stones at him, by commandment of the king, in the large place of the house of the Lord.
22 And king Joash had not mind on the mercy, or goodness, which Jehoi-ada, the father of Zechariah, had done with him; but he killed the son of Jehoiada. And when Zechariah died, he said, The Lord see this thing, and again-seek it.
23 And when a year was turned about, either ended, the host of Syria went up against Joash, and it came into Judah and into Jerusalem, and it killed all the princes of the people; and they sent all the prey to the king of Damascus.
24 And certainly, when a full little number of men of Syria was come into Judah, the Lord betook in their hands a multitude of Jews without number, for they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. Also they used shameful dooms against Joash;
25 and they went away from him, and they left him in great sorrows. And his servants rose up against him, into vengeance of the blood of the son of Jehoiada, priest; and killed him in his bed, and he was dead. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of kings.
26 And Zabad, the son of Shimeath of Ammon, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith of Moab, setted treasons to him.
27 Soothly his sons, and the sum of money that was gathered under him, and the repairing of the house of God, be written diligently in the book of Kings. And Amaziah, his son, reigned for him;