Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.
Joash did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest,
and Jehoiada acquired two wives for him and he fathered sons and daughters.
Some time later, Joash determined to restore the house of Yahweh.
He gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah annually and gather money from all Israel to repair the house of your God. Be quick about this matter.” But the Levites were not quick about it.
So the king called for Jehoiada the head priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of Yahweh and of the assembly of Israel from Judah and from Jerusalem for the tent of the testimony?
For that wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into the house of God, and they also gave all the dedicated things of the house of Yahweh to the Baals.”
So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of Yahweh.
Then they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God required of Israel in the wilderness.
All the officials and all the people rejoiced and brought their contribution and threw it into the chest until it was full.
And so whenever the chest was brought by the hand of the Levites to the king’s officers and they saw that there was much money, then the king’s scribe and the head priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it and returned it to its place. They did this day after day, and gathered money in abundance.
The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of Yahweh, and also to those who worked iron and bronze to strengthen the house of Yahweh.
So the workmen worked, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands, and they set up the house of God according to its specifications and strengthened it.
When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which were made articles for the house of Yahweh: articles for service and for the burnt offerings, and spoons, and articles of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh regularly all the days of Jehoiada.
But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was 130 years old when he died.
They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and his house.
Now after the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them.
They abandoned the house of Yahweh the God of their fathers and served the Asherah poles and the idols, and wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.
Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them back to Yahweh, and they testified against them but they would not listen.
Joash's Treachery
And the spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the commandments of Yahweh? You will not be prosperous! Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’”
They conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Yahweh.
So Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh see this and repay it.”
Joash Assassinated
And then at the turn of the year, the army of the Syrians came up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the officials of the people from among the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.
For the army of the Syrians came with a small number of men, and Yahweh gave into their hand a very great army because they had forsaken Yahweh the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.
When they had departed from him (for they left him very sick), his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed. So he died and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
These are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess.
Now concerning his sons, and the many prophecies against him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the commentary of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.