¹Joash was seven years old when he started to reign, and he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. ²And Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³And Jehoiada took two wives, and he begot sons and daughters. ⁴And it came to pass after that, that Joash had it in his heart to renovate the house of the Lord. ⁵And he gathered the priests and the Levites, and he said to them, “Go out into the cities of Judah and collect money from all of Israel to keep the house of your God in good repair year by year. So expedite the matter.” But the Levites did not expedite it. ⁶And the king called for Jehoiada the head priest, and he said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and from Jerusalem the contribution enjoined by Moses the servant of the Lord, and from the convocation of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?” ⁷For the sons of Athaliah, the wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and moreover they had refashioned all the holy things of the house of the Lord for the Baalim. ⁸So the king spoke, and they made a chest, and they put it at the gate of the house of the Lord on the outside. ⁹And they issued an appeal in Judah and in Jerusalem to bring to the Lord the contribution enjoined by Moses the servant of God on Israel in the desert. ¹⁰And all the officials and all the people rejoiced, and they brought it, and they deposited it in the chest until all was done. ¹¹And it came to pass, at the time when he had the chest brought at the king's behest by the agency of the Levites, and when they saw that the amount of money was large, that the king's scribe came, and the head priest's officer, and they emptied the chest and carried it, and they returned it to its place. They did this daily, and they collected money in abundance. ¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work of craftsmanship for the house of the Lord, and they hired hewers and artisans to renovate the house of the Lord, and also blacksmiths and coppersmiths to refurbish the house of the Lord. ¹³And those engaged in the work did the work, and the restoration of the artisanry progressed in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its elegant form, and they reinforced it. ¹⁴And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and they used it for equipment for the house of the Lord – equipment for serving and for making offerings, and spoons, and items of gold and silver. And they would make burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually, in all the days of Jehoiada. ¹⁵And when Jehoiada grew old, he was replete with days, and he died. He was one hundred and thirty years old at his death. ¹⁶And they buried him in the City of David with the kings, because he did good in Israel, and with God, and his house. ¹⁷And after the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and prostrated themselves to the king, and then the king listened to them. ¹⁸Then they forsook the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and they served the phallic parks and the idols, and there was anger over Judah and Jerusalem because of this trespass of theirs. ¹⁹And he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord, and they testified against them, but they would not listen. ²⁰Then the spirit of God invested Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and he said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why are you transgressing the Lord's commandments, so not prospering? Now because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’ ” ²¹But they conspired against him, and they stoned him at the king's command, in the courtyard of the house of the Lord. ²²So Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada Zechariah's father had shown him, but he killed his son, who, as he died, said, “Let the Lord see and requite it.” ²³And it came to pass at the close of the year that the forces of Aramaea came up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and they eliminated all the officials of the people from the people themselves, and they sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. ²⁴For the forces of Aramaea came with a small number of men, but the Lord delivered a very large force into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash. ²⁵And when they had departed from him – but they left him with many ailments – his servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed, and he died, and they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. ²⁶And these were the conspirators against him: Zabad the son of Shimath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. ²⁷And as for his sons, and the greatness of the burden on him, and the re-establishment of the house of God, they are to be seen written in the Commentary of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.