Chapter 24

¹ Joas was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Sabia of Bersabee. ² And Joas did that which right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jodae the priest. ³ And Jodae took to himself two wives, and they bore sons and daughters.

⁴ And it came to pass afterward that it came into the heart of Joas to repair the

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house of the Lord. ⁵ And he gathered the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out into the cities of Juda, and collect money of all Israel to repair the house of the Lord from year to year, and make haste to speak of it. But the Levites hasted not.

⁶ And king Joas called Jodae the chief, and said to him, Why hast thou not looked after the Levites, so that they should bring from Juda and Jerusalem that which was ¹prescribed by Moses the man of God, when he assembled Israel at the tabernacle of witness? ⁷ For Gotholia was a transgressor, and her sons tore down the house of God; for they offered the holy things of the house of the Lord to Baalim.

⁸ And the king said, Let a ²box be made, and let it be put at the gate of the house of the Lord without. ⁹ And let men proclaim in Juda an in Jerusalem, that the people should bring to the Lord, as Moses the servant of God spoke concerning Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people gave, and brought in, and cast into the box until it was filled. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when they brought in the box to the officers of the king by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that the money was more than sufficient, then came the king's scribe, and the officer of the high priest, and emptied the box, and restored it to its place. Thus they did day by day, and collected much ³money. ¹² And the king and Jodae the priest gave it to the workmen employed in the service of the house of the Lord, and they hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, also smiths and braziers to repair the house of the Lord. ¹³ And the workmen wrought, and the works prospered in their hands, and they established the house of the Lord on its foundation, and strengthened it. ¹⁴ And when they had finished it, they brought to the king and to Jodae the remainder of the money, and they made vessels for the house of the Lord, vessels of service for whole-burnt-offerings, and gold and silver censers: and they offered up whole-burnt-offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jodae.

¹⁵ And Jodae grew old, being full of days, and he died, being a hundred and thirty years old at his death. ¹⁶ And they buried him with the kings in the city of David, because he had dealt well with Israel, and with God and his house.

¹⁷ And it came to pass after the death of Jodae, that the princes of Juda went in, and did obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened to them. ¹⁸ And they forsook the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served the Astartes and idols: and there was wrath upon Juda and Jerusalem in that day. ¹⁹ yet he sent prophets to them, to turn them to the Lord; but they hearkened not: and he testified to them, but they obeyed not. ²⁰ And the Spirit of God ⁴came upon Azarias the son of Jodae the priest, and he stood up above the people, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Why do ye transgress the commandments of the Lord? so shall

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ye not prosper; for ye have forsaken the Lord, and he will forsake you. ²¹ And they conspired against him, and stone him by command of king Joas in the court of the Lord's house. ²² So Joas remembered not the ⁵kindness which his father Jodae had exercised towards him, but slew his son. And as he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and judge.

²³ And it came to pass after the end of the year, that the host of Syria went up against him, and came against Juda and Jerusalem: and they slew all the chiefs of the people among the people, and all their spoils they sent to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ For the army of Syria came with few men, yet God gave into their hands a very large army, because they had forsaken the God of their fathers; and he ⁶brought judgments on Joas.

²⁵ And after they had departed from him, when they had left him in sore diseases, then his servants conspired against him ⁷because of the blood of the son of Jodae 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 sepulchre of the kings. ²⁶ And they that conspired against him were Zabed the son of Samaath the Ammanite, and Jozabed the son of Samareth the Moabite. ²⁷ And all his sons, and the five came to him: and the other matters, behold, they are written in the book of the kings. And Amasias his son reigned in his stead.