2 Chronicles 24

1 Yoash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem (Yerushalayim). His mother’s name also was Tsivyah of Beer-Sheva.

2 And Yoash did that which was right in the sight of יהוה all the days of Yehoyada the priest (kohen).

3 And Yehoyada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.

4 And it came to pass after this, that Yoash was minded to repair the house of יהוה.

5 And he gathered together the priests (kohanim) and the Levites (Lewiyim), and said to them, “Go out unto the cities of Judah (Yehudah), and gather of all Yisrael money to repair the house of your God (Elohim) from year to year, and see that you hasten the matter.” Howbeit the Levites (Lewiyim) hastened it not.

6 And the king called for Yehoyada the chief, and said unto him, “Why have you not required of the Levites (Lewiyim) to bring in out of Judah (Yehudah) and out of Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) the collection, according to the commandment of Moses (Mosheh) the servant of יהוה, and of the congregation of Yisrael, for the tabernacle of witness?”

7 For the sons of Atalyah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God (Elohim); and also all the dedicated things of the house of יהוה did they bestow upon 34Baalim.

8 And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of יהוה.

9 And they made a proclamation through Judah (Yehudah) and Jerusalem (Yerushalayim), to bring in to יהוה the collection that Moses (Mosheh) the servant of God (Elohim) laid upon Yisrael in the wilderness.

10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.

11 Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites (Lewiyim), and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest (kohen gadol)’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.

12 And the king and Yehoyada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of יהוה, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of יהוה, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of יהוה.

13 So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God (Elohim) in his state, and strengthened it.

14 And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Yehoyada, whereof were made vessels for the house of יהוה, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of יהוה continually all the days of Yehoyada.

15 But Yehoyada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; a hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.

16 And they buried him in the city of Dawid among the kings, because he had done good in Yisrael, both toward God (Elohim), and toward his house.

17 Now after the death of Yehoyada came the princes of Judah (Yehudah), and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.

18 And they left the house of יהוה God (Elohim) of their fathers, and served Asherim and idols; and wrath came upon Judah (Yehudah) and Yerushalayim for this their trespass.

19 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto יהוה; and they testified against them, but they would not give ear.

20 And the Spirit of God (Elohim) came upon Zechariah (Zekharyahu) the son of Yehoyada the priest (kohen), who stood above the people, and said unto them, “Thus saith God (Elohim): ‘Why transgress you the commandments of יהוה, that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken יהוה, He hath also forsaken you.’”

21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of יהוה.

22 Thus Yoash the king remembered not the kindness which Yehoyada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And as he was dying, he said, “יהוה look upon it, and require it.”

23 And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the army of Syria (Aram) came up against him; and they came to Judah (Yehudah) and Jerusalem (Yerushalayim), and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus (Dammeseq).

24 For the army of the Syrians (Arammim) came with a small company of men, and יהוה delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken יהוה God (Elohim) of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Yoash.

25 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 Yehoyada the priest (kohen), and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of Dawid, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.

26 And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Yehozavad the son of Shimrith a Moavitess.

27 Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God (Elohim), behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amatsyah his son reigned in his stead.