2 Chronicles 23-24

Easy-to-Read Version

Priest Jehoiada and King Joash

23 After six years, Jehoiada showed his strength and made an agreement with the captains. These captains were Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zicri. ² They went around in Judah and gathered the Levites from all the towns of Judah. They also gathered the leaders of the families of Israel. Then they went to Jerusalem. ³ All the people meeting together made an agreement with the king in God’s Temple.

Jehoiada said to the people, “The king’s son will rule. That is what the Lord promised about David’s descendants. ⁴ Now, this is what you must do: One-third of you priests and Levites who go on duty on the Sabbath will guard the doors. ⁵ And one-third of you will be at the king’s palace, and one-third of you will be at the Foundation Gate. But all the other people will stay in the yards of the Lord’s Temple. ⁶ Only the priests and Levites who serve in the Lord’s Temple are permitted to enter it. They are the only ones who have been made holy. Don’t let anyone else enter. All the others must do only the work the Lord has given them. ⁷ The Levites must stay near the king. Every man must have his sword with him. If anyone tries to enter the Temple, kill that person. You must stay with the king everywhere he goes.”

⁸ The Levites and all the people of Judah obeyed all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. Jehoiada the priest did not excuse anyone from the groups of the priests. So each captain and all his men came in on the Sabbath with those who went out on the Sabbath. ⁹ Jehoiada the priest gave the spears and the large and small shields that belonged to King David to the officers. The weapons were kept in God’s Temple. ¹⁰ Then Jehoiada told the men where to stand. Every man had his weapon in his hand. The men stood all the way from the right side of the Temple to the left side of the Temple. They stood near the altar and the Temple, and near the king. ¹¹ They brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him. They gave him a copy of the agreement.^[a] Then they made Joash king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed Joash and said, “Long live the king!”

¹² Athaliah heard the noise of the people running to the Temple and praising the king. She came into the Lord’s Temple to the people. ¹³ She looked and saw the king standing by his column at the front entrance. The officers and the men who blew trumpets were near the king. The people of the land were happy and blowing trumpets. The singers were playing on instruments of music. They led the people in singing praises. Then Athaliah tore her clothes^[b] and said, “Treason! Treason!”^[c]

¹⁴ Jehoiada the priest brought out the army captains. He said to them, “Take Athaliah outside among the army. Use your swords to kill anyone who follows her.” Then the priest warned the soldiers, “Don’t kill Athaliah in the Lord’s Temple.” ¹⁵ Then those men grabbed Athaliah when she came to the entrance of the Horse Gate at the king’s palace. Then they killed her there.

¹⁶ Then Jehoiada made an agreement with all the people and the king. They all agreed that they all would be the Lord’s people. ¹⁷ All the people went into the temple of the idol Baal and tore it down. They also broke the altars and idols that were in Baal’s temple. They killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars of Baal.

¹⁸ Then Jehoiada chose the priests to be responsible for the Lord’s Temple. The priests were Levites, and David had given them the job of being responsible for the Lord’s Temple. They were to offer the burnt offerings to the Lord the way the Law of Moses commanded. They offered the sacrifices with much joy and singing the way David commanded. ¹⁹ Jehoiada put guards at the gates of the Lord’s Temple to prevent any unclean person from entering the Temple.

²⁰ Jehoiada took the army captains, the leaders, the rulers of the people, and all the people of the land with him. Then Jehoiada took the king out of the Lord’s Temple. They went through the Upper Gate to the king’s palace and put the king on the throne. ²¹ All the people of Judah were very happy, and the city of Jerusalem had peace because Athaliah was killed with a sword.

Joash Rebuilds the Temple

24 Joash was seven years old when he became king. He ruled 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah. Zibiah was from the town of Beersheba. ² Joash did right in front of the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest was living. ³ Jehoiada chose two wives for Joash. Joash had sons and daughters.

⁴ Then later on, Joash decided to rebuild the Lord’s Temple. ⁵ Joash called the priests and the Levites together. He said to them, “Go out to the towns of Judah and gather the money all the Israelites pay every year. Use that money to rebuild your God’s Temple. Hurry and do this.” But the Levites didn’t hurry.

⁶ So King Joash called Jehoiada the leading priest. The king said, “Jehoiada, why haven’t you made the Levites bring in the tax money from Judah and Jerusalem? Moses, the Lord’s servant, and the Israelites used that tax money for the Tent of the Agreement.”

⁷ In the past, Athaliah’s sons broke into God’s Temple and used the holy things in the Lord’s Temple for their worship of the Baal gods. Athaliah was a very wicked woman.

⁸ King Joash gave a command for a box to be made and put outside the gate at the Lord’s Temple. ⁹ Then the Levites made an announcement in Judah and Jerusalem. They told the people to bring in the tax money for the Lord. That tax money is what Moses the servant of God had required the Israelites to give while they were in the desert. ¹⁰ All the leaders and the people were happy. They brought their money and put it in the box. They continued giving until the box was full. ¹¹ Then the Levites would take the box to the king’s officials. They saw that the box was full of money. The king’s secretary and the leading priest’s officer came and took the money out of the box. Then they took the box back to its place again. They did this often and gathered much money. ¹² Then King Joash and Jehoiada gave the money to the people who worked on the Lord’s Temple. And the people who worked on the Lord’s Temple hired skilled woodcarvers and carpenters to rebuild the Lord’s Temple. They also hired workers who knew how to work with iron and bronze to rebuild the Lord’s Temple.

¹³ The men who supervised the work were very faithful. The work to rebuild the Temple was successful. They built God’s Temple the way it was before and they made it stronger. ¹⁴ When the workers finished, they brought the money that was left to King Joash and Jehoiada. They used that money to make things for the Lord’s Temple. These things were used for the service in the Temple and for offering burnt offerings. They also made bowls and other things from gold and silver. The priests offered burnt offerings in the Lord’s Temple every day while Jehoiada was alive.

¹⁵ Jehoiada became old. He had a very long life, and he died when he was 130 years old. ¹⁶ The people buried Jehoiada in the City of David where the kings are buried. The people buried Jehoiada there because in his life he did much good in Israel for God and for God’s Temple.

¹⁷ After Jehoiada died, the leaders of Judah came and bowed to King Joash. The king listened to the leaders. ¹⁸ They all stopped worshiping at the Temple of the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped. Instead, they started worshiping Asherah poles and other idols. Because they sinned in this way, God was angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁹ God sent prophets to the people to bring them back to the Lord. The prophets warned them, but they refused to listen.

²⁰ The Spirit of God filled Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood in front of the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you people refuse to obey the Lord’s commands? You will not be successful. You have left the Lord. So he has also left you!’”

²¹ But the people made plans against Zechariah. The king commanded the people to kill Zechariah, so they threw rocks at him until he was dead. The people did this in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. ²² Joash the king didn’t remember Jehoiada’s kindness to him. Jehoiada was Zechariah’s father. But Joash killed Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son. Before Zechariah died, he said, “May the Lord see what you are doing and punish you!”

²³ At the end of the year, the Aramean army came against Joash. They attacked Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the valuable things to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ The Aramean army came with only a small group of men, but the Lord let them defeat the much larger army of Judah. This was a punishment for Joash because the people of Judah had left the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped. ²⁵ When the Arameans left Joash, he was badly wounded. His own servants made plans against him. They did this because Joash killed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest. The servants killed Joash on his own bed. After he died, the people buried him in the City of David, but not in the place where the kings are buried.

²⁶ These are the servants who made plans against Joash: Zabad and Jehozabad. Zabad’s mother was Shimeath, a woman from Ammon. And Jehozabad’s mother was Shimrith from Moab. ²⁷ The story about Joash’s sons, the great prophecies against him, and how he rebuilt God’s Temple are written in the book, Commentary on the Kings. Joash’s son Amaziah became the new king after him.