- Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Joash did right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he begot sons and daughters.
- And it came to pass, after this, Joash was determined to repair the house of the Lord. And 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 see that you hasten the matter. Nevertheless, the Levites hastened not.
- And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why have you not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection of Moses the servant of the Lord and of the congregation of Israel for the tabernacle of witness? For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God, and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon the Baalim.
- And at the king’s commandment, they made a chest and set it outside at the gate of the house of the Lord. And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring in to the Lord the collection of Moses the servant of God upon Israel in the wilderness. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest until they had made an end.
- Now it came to pass that when the chest 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 chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as 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 such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord.
- So the workmen worked, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state and strengthened it. And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord, even 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.
- But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; a hundred thirty years old was he when he died. And 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.
- Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and did reverence to the king. Then the king listened unto them. And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers and served groves and idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord, and they testified against them; but they would not give ear.
- And the spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people and said unto them, Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you.
- And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus, Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon me and require me.
- And it came to pass, at the end of the year, that 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; for the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.
- And when they were departed from him — for they left him in great diseases — his own servants 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 buried him not in the sepulchers of the kings. And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.
- Now his sons, and the greatness of the burdens upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the history of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.
Chapter 11