Add parallel Print Page Options

24 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. Also his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

And Joash did that which was 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, that Joash was minded 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 from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter.” However the Levites hastened it not.

And the king called for Jehoiada the chief priest and said unto him, “Why hast thou not required the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment 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 that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel 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, at whatever time the chest was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, that 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.

12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord; and they 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.

13 So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them; and they set the house of God in order, and strengthened it.

14 And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, of which were made vessels for the house of the Lord, 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 the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.

15 But Jehoiada 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 David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward His house.

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

18 And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served Asherah poles and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

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

20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said unto them, “Thus saith God: ’Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, 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 the Lord.

22 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 it, and require it.”

23 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 their spoil unto the king of Damascus.

24 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.

25 And when they had departed from him (for they left him with grave 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.

26 And these are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.

27 Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing 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 stead.

25 Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.

Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants who had killed the king his father.

But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.”

Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and made them captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin. And he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, who could handle spear and shield.

He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

But there came a man of God to him, saying, “O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim.

But if thou wilt go, do it; be strong for the battle. But God shall make thee fall before the enemy, for God hath the power to help and to cast down.”

And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?” And the man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.”

10 Then Amaziah separated them (to wit, the army that had come to him out from Ephraim) to go home again. Therefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.

11 And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people and went to the Valley of Salt, and smote ten thousand of the children of Seir.

12 And another ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were broken in pieces.

13 But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah from Samaria even unto Bethhoron, and smote three thousand of them and took much spoil.

14 Now it came to pass, after Amaziah had come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them and burned incense unto them.

15 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and He sent unto him a prophet, who said unto him, “Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?”

16 And it came to pass as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, “Art thou made the king’s counsel? Forbear! Why should thou be smitten?” Then the prophet forbore and said, “I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.”

17 Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.”

18 And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give thy daughter to my son as wife’; and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle.

19 Thou sayest, ‘Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites,’ and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast. Abide now at home. Why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou and Judah with thee?”

20 But Amaziah would not hear; for it came from God, that He might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.

21 So Joash the king of Israel went up; and they looked one another in the face, both he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Bethshemesh, which belongeth to Judah.

22 And Judah was smitten before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent.

23 And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Bethshemesh; and he brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

24 And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obededom, and the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

25 And Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.

26 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?

27 Now after the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish, but they sent to Lachish after him and slew him there.

28 And they brought him upon horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of Judah [that is, the City of David].

26 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.

Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. Also his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah did.

And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.

And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod and among the Philistines.

And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Meunites.

And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah; and his name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt, for he strengthened himself exceedingly.

Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.

10 Also he built towers in the desert and dug many wells, for he had much cattle, both in the low country and in the plains; husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved husbandry.

11 Moreover Uzziah had a host of fighting men who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their count by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains.

12 The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand and six hundred.

13 And under their hand was an army, three hundred and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy.

14 And Uzziah prepared for them, throughout all the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and jackets of mail, and bows, and slings to cast stones.

15 And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks with which to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far abroad, for he was marvelously helped till he was strong.

16 But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction; for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, who were valiant men.

18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, “It pertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God.”

19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar.

20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence. Yea, he himself hastened also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.

21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death; and he dwelt in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.

22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.

23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son reigned in his stead.