1: Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of
Beer-sheba. |
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2: And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD
all the days of Jehoiada the priest. |
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3:
And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and
daughters. |
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4: And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to
repair the house of the LORD. |
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5: And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said
to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money
to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye
hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not. |
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6: And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him,
Why hast thou not required of 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? |
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7: 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 Baalim. |
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8: And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it
without at the gate of the house of the LORD. |
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9: 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. |
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10: And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought
in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. |
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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, and when they saw
that there was much money, 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.
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12: And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of
the service of the house of the LORD, and 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. |
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13: So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them,
and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it. |
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14: And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the
money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof 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. |
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15: But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an
hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. |
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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. |
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17: Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah,
and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. |
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18: And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and
served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for
this their trespass. |
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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.
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20: And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada
the priest, which 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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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 the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus. |
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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. |
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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 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
sepulchres of the kings. |
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26: And these are they that conspired against him; bad the son
of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.
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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 story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son
reigned in his stead. |