2 *Chronicles 24

₁Joash was 7 years old when he became king and he was king in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother's name was Zibiah. She came from the town of Beersheba. ₂While the priest Jehoiada lived, Joash did things that the Lord loved. ₃Jehoiada chose 2 women to marry Joash and Joash had sons and daughters.

₄Some time later Joash decided to repair the temple. ₅He called the priests and Levites to him and said to them: ‘You must go to the towns of Judah and you must get money from the Israelites every year to repair the temple of your God. You must do it immediately.’

But the Levites did not do it immediately. ₆Then the king called the priest Jehoiada and he asked him: ‘Why didn't you tell the Levites to collect money from the people of Judah and Jerusalem? This is money that the people have to pay every year. Moses, the servant of God, said all the Israelites had to pay tax for the tent where the 10 commandments were.’

₇The temple had to be repaired because Athaliah and her sons were bad and they had not repaired it. They went into the temple and took all the holy things of the temple and used them to worship the Baal idols. ₈The king told them to make a box and to put it in front of the gate of the temple, and they did it. ₉Then they told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to bring the money that Moses, the servant of God, had told the Israelites to give when they were in the desert. ₁₀The officials and all the people were happy because of this. They all brought money and they all put it into the box. ₁₁The Levites took the box to the king's officials every day. When the officials saw there was a lot of money in the box, the secretary of the king and a priest came. They took out all the money in the box and they put the box back in its place. They did this every day and they collected a lot of money. ₁₂The king and Jehoiada gave the money to the people who had to repair the temple. They hired people to cut stones to repair the temple, and artisans and people who could work with iron and bronze. ₁₃The people worked very hard and they finished the work. They repaired the temple to what it had been before and they made it strong again. ₁₄When they finished all the work, they gave the money that was left over to the king and Jehoiada and they made tools for the temple, for the work at the temple and for the burnt-offerings. They also made bowls from gold and silver.

While Jehoiada lived they sacrificed burnt-offerings at the temple every day.

₁₅The priest Jehoiada became old and he died when he was 130 years old. ₁₆They buried him with the kings in the City of David because he had done very good things for Israel and for God and his temple.

₁₇After the priest Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah came and bowed before the king and he did what they wanted. ₁₈Then the people of Judah stopped worshipping in the temple of the Lord and they started to worship_idols and sacred_pillars. The Lord became angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem for these sins that they did. ₁₉The Lord sent prophets to the people to tell them to turn back to God. The prophets warned them that they were doing wrong, but they did not listen. ₂₀Then the power of God came into Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, the priest. Zechariah went and he stood in front of the people and he said to them: ‘Why don't you do what the commandments of the Lord say? This will bring only trouble and punishment. You have gone away from the Lord and now the Lord has gone away from you.’

₂₁But the people decided to kill Zechariah and the king said they must kill him with stones in the courtyard of the temple. ₂₂King Joash did not remember how Zechariah's father, Jehoiada, had helped him and that he had always been good to him. He told the people to kill Jehoiada's son. When Zechariah died, he said: ‘I pray that the Lord sees what you are doing and that He will punish you.’

₂₃At the beginning of the new year the army of the Arameans came to attack Joash and his army. The Arameans came to Judah and Jerusalem and they killed all the leaders of the people. They took all the plunder and sent it to the king of Damascus. ₂₄The army of the Arameans was small, but the Lord helped them defeat the big army of Judah because the people of Judah and Jerusalem had turned away from the Lord, the God of their forefathers. The Arameans punished Joash. ₂₅When the Arameans went home, Joash was wounded very badly. Some of his officials decided to kill him because he had said that they must kill the son of the priest Jehoiada. The officials then killed Joash in his bed. He died and they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs where the kings were buried. ₂₆The men who killed him were Zabad, son of Shimeath, an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith, a Moabite woman. ₂₇The names of the sons of Joash and all the things that the prophets said about him and how he repaired the temple are written in the book of the kings. Amaziah, son of Joash, became king after him.