Category: 2 Chronicles

[23:1] After waiting six years Jehoiada the priest decided that it was time to take action. He made a pact with five army officers: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.

[23:2] They traveled to all the cities of Judah and brought back with them to Jerusalem the Levites and all the heads of the clans.

[23:3] They all gathered in the Temple, and there they made a covenant with Joash, the king's son. Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the son of the late king. He is now to be king, as the Lord promised that King David's descendants would be.

[23:4] This is what we will do. When the priests and Levites come on duty on the Sabbath, one third of them will guard the Temple gates,

[23:5] another third will guard the royal palace, and the rest will be stationed at the Foundation Gate. All the people will assemble in the Temple courtyard.

[23:6] No one is to enter the Temple buildings except the priests and the Levites who are on duty. They may enter, because they are consecrated, but the rest of the people must obey the Lord's instructions and stay outside.

[23:7] The Levites are to stand guard around the king, with their swords drawn, and are to stay with the king wherever he goes. Anyone who tries to enter the Temple is to be killed.”

[23:8] The Levites and the people of Judah carried out Jehoiada's instructions. The men were not dismissed when they went off duty on the Sabbath, so the commanders had available both those coming on duty and those going off.

[23:9] Jehoiada gave the officers the spears and shields that had belonged to King David and had been kept in the Temple.

[23:10] He stationed the men with drawn swords all around the front of the Temple, to protect the king.

[23:11] Then Jehoiada led Joash out, placed the crown on his head, and gave him a copy of the laws governing kingship. And so he was made king. Jehoiada the priest and his sons anointed Joash, and everyone shouted, “Long live the king!”

[23:12] Athaliah heard the people cheering for the king, so she hurried to the Temple, where the crowd had gathered.

[23:13] There she saw the new king at the Temple entrance, standing by the column reserved for kings and surrounded by the army officers and the trumpeters. All the people were shouting joyfully and blowing trumpets, and the Temple musicians with their instruments were leading the celebration. She tore her clothes in distress and shouted, “Treason! Treason!”

[23:14] Jehoiada did not want Athaliah killed in the Temple area, so he called out the army officers and said, “Take her out between the rows of guards, and kill anyone who tries to rescue her.”

[23:15] They seized her, took her to the palace, and there at the Horse Gate they killed her.

[23:16] The priest Jehoiada had King Joash and the people join him in making a covenant that they would be the Lord's people.

[23:17] Then they all went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols there and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.

[23:18] Jehoiada put the priests and Levites in charge of the work of the Temple. They were to carry out the duties assigned to them by King David and to burn the sacrifices offered to the Lord in accordance with the Law of Moses. They were also in charge of the music and the celebrations.

[23:19] Jehoiada also put guards on duty at the Temple gates to keep out anyone who was ritually unclean.

[23:20] The army officers, the leading citizens, the officials, and all the rest of the people joined Jehoiada in a procession that brought the king from the Temple to the palace. They entered by the main gate, and the king took his place on the throne.

[23:21] All the people were filled with happiness, and the city was quiet, now that Athaliah had been killed.

[24:1] Joash became king of Judah at the age of seven, and he ruled in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother was Zibiah from the city of Beersheba.

[24:2] He did what was pleasing to the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive.

[24:3] Jehoiada chose two wives for King Joash, and they bore him sons and daughters.

[24:4] After he had been king for a while, Joash decided to have the Temple repaired.

[24:5] He ordered the priests and the Levites to go to the cities of Judah and collect from all the people enough money to make the annual repairs on the Temple. He told them to act promptly, but the Levites delayed,

[24:6] so he called in Jehoiada, their leader, and demanded, “Why haven't you seen to it that the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax which Moses, the servant of the Lord, required the people to pay for support of the Tent of the Lord's presence?” (

[24:7] The followers of Athaliah, that corrupt woman, had damaged the Temple and had used many of the sacred objects in the worship of Baal.)

[24:8] The king ordered the Levites to make a box for contributions and to place it at the Temple gate.

[24:9] They sent word throughout Jerusalem and Judah for everyone to bring to the Lord the tax which Moses, God's servant, had first collected in the wilderness.

[24:10] This pleased the people and their leaders, and they brought their tax money and filled the box with it.

[24:11] Every day the Levites would take the box to the royal official who was in charge of it. Whenever it was full, the royal secretary and the High Priest's representative would take the money out and return the box to its place. And so they collected a large sum of money.

[24:12] The king and Jehoiada would give the money to those who were in charge of repairing the Temple, and they hired stonemasons, carpenters, and metalworkers to make the repairs.

[24:13] All of them worked hard, and they restored the Temple to its original condition, as solid as ever.

[24:14] When the repairs were finished, the remaining gold and silver was given to the king and Jehoiada, who used it to have bowls and other utensils made for the Temple.

[24:14] As long as Jehoiada was alive, sacrifices were offered regularly at the Temple.

[24:15] After reaching the very old age of a hundred and thirty, he died.

[24:16] They buried him in the royal tombs in David's City in recognition of the service he had done for the people of Israel, for God, and for the Temple.

[24:17] But once Jehoiada was dead, the leaders of Judah persuaded King Joash to listen to them instead.

[24:18] And so the people stopped worshiping in the Temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and began to worship idols and the images of the goddess Asherah. Their guilt for these sins brought the Lord's anger on Judah and Jerusalem.

[24:19] The Lord sent prophets to warn them to return to him, but the people refused to listen.

[24:20] Then the spirit of God took control of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood where the people could see him and called out, “The Lord God asks why you have disobeyed his commands and are bringing disaster on yourselves! You abandoned him, so he has abandoned you!”

[24:21] King Joash joined in a conspiracy against Zechariah, and on the king's orders the people stoned Zechariah in the Temple courtyard.

[24:22] The king forgot about the loyal service that Zechariah's father Jehoiada had given him, and he had Zechariah killed. As Zechariah was dying, he called out, “May the Lord see what you are doing and punish you!”

[24:23] When autumn came that year, the Syrian army attacked Judah and Jerusalem, killed all the leaders, and took large amounts of loot back to Damascus.

[24:24] The Syrian army was small, but the Lord let them defeat a much larger Judean army because the people had abandoned him, the Lord God of their ancestors. In this way King Joash was punished.

[24:25] He was severely wounded, and when the enemy withdrew, two of his officials plotted against him and killed him in his bed to avenge the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. He was buried in David's City, but not in the royal tombs. (

[24:26] Those who plotted against him were Zabad, the son of an Ammonite woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of a Moabite woman named Shimrith.)

[24:27] The Commentary on the Book of Kings contains the stories of the sons of Joash, the prophecies spoken against him, and the record of how he rebuilt the Temple. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

[25:1] Amaziah became king at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem.

[25:2] He did what was pleasing to the Lord, but did it reluctantly.

[25:3] As soon as he was firmly in power, he executed the officials who had murdered his father.

[25:4] He did not, however, execute their children, but followed what the Lord had commanded in the Law of Moses: “Parents are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their children, and children are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their parents; people are to be put to death only for crimes they themselves have committed.”

[25:5] King Amaziah organized all the men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin into army units, according to the clans they belonged to, and placed officers in command of units of a thousand and units of a hundred. This included all men twenty years of age or older, 300,000 in all. They were picked troops, ready for battle, skilled in using spears and shields.

[25:6] In addition, he hired 100,000 soldiers from Israel at a cost of about four tons of silver.

[25:7] But a prophet went to the king and said to him, “Don't take these Israelite soldiers with you. The Lord is not with these people from the Northern Kingdom.

[25:8] You may think that they will make you stronger in battle, but it is God who has the power to give victory or defeat, and he will let your enemies defeat you.”

[25:9] Amaziah asked the prophet, “But what about all that silver I have already paid for them?” The prophet replied, “The Lord can give you back more than that!”

[25:10] So Amaziah sent the hired troops away and told them to go home. At this they went home, bitterly angry with the people of Judah.

[25:11] Amaziah summoned up his courage and led his army to Salt Valley. There they fought and killed ten thousand Edomite soldiers

[25:12] and captured another ten thousand. They took the prisoners to the top of the cliff at the city of Sela and threw them off, so that they were killed on the rocks below.

[25:13] Meanwhile the Israelite soldiers that Amaziah had not allowed to go into battle with him attacked the Judean cities between Samaria and Beth Horon, killed three thousand men, and captured quantities of loot.

[25:14] When Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought their idols back with him, set them up, worshiped them, and burned incense to them.

[25:15] This made the Lord angry, so he sent a prophet to Amaziah. The prophet demanded, “Why have you worshiped foreign gods that could not even save their own people from your power?”

[25:16] “Since when,” Amaziah interrupted, “have we made you adviser to the king? Stop talking, or I'll have you killed!” The prophet stopped, but not before saying, “Now I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done all this and have ignored my advice.”

[25:17] King Amaziah of Judah and his advisers plotted against Israel. He then sent a message to King Jehoash of Israel, who was the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu, challenging him to fight.

[25:18] Jehoash sent this answer to Amaziah: “Once a thorn bush in the Lebanon Mountains sent a message to a cedar: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.’ A wild animal passed by and trampled the bush down.

[25:19] Now Amaziah, you boast that you have defeated the Edomites, but I advise you to stay at home. Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and your people?”

[25:20] But Amaziah refused to listen. It was God's will for Amaziah to be defeated, because he had worshiped the Edomite idols.

[25:21] So King Jehoash of Israel went into battle against King Amaziah of Judah. They met at Beth Shemesh in Judah,

[25:22] the Judean army was defeated, and the soldiers fled to their homes.

[25:23] Jehoash captured Amaziah and took him to Jerusalem. There he tore down the city wall from Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of two hundred yards.

[25:24] He took back to Samaria as loot all the gold and silver in the Temple, the Temple equipment guarded by the descendants of Obed Edom, and the palace treasures. He also took hostages with him.

[25:25] King Amaziah of Judah outlived King Jehoash of Israel by fifteen years.

[25:26] All the other things that Amaziah did from the beginning to the end of his reign are recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

[25:27] Ever since the time when he rebelled against the Lord, there had been a plot against him in Jerusalem. Finally he fled to the city of Lachish, but his enemies followed him there and killed him.

[25:28] His body was carried to Jerusalem on a horse, and he was buried in the royal tombs in David's City.

[26:1] All the people of Judah chose Amaziah's sixteen-year-old son Uzziah to succeed his father as king. (

[26:2] It was after the death of Amaziah that Uzziah recaptured Elath and rebuilt the city.)

[26:3] Uzziah became king at the age of sixteen, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem.

[26:4] Following the example of his father, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

[26:5] As long as Zechariah, his religious adviser, was living, he served the Lord faithfully, and God blessed him.

[26:6] Uzziah went to war against the Philistines. He tore down the walls of the cities of Gath, Jamnia, and Ashdod, and built fortified cities near Ashdod and in the rest of Philistia.

[26:7] God helped him defeat the Philistines, the Arabs living at Gurbaal, and the Meunites.

[26:8] The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and he became so powerful that his fame spread even to Egypt.

[26:9] Uzziah strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem by building towers at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and where the wall turned.

[26:10] He also built fortified towers in the open country and dug many cisterns, because he had large herds of livestock in the western foothills and plains. Because he loved farming, he encouraged the people to plant vineyards in the hill country and to farm the fertile land.

[26:11] He had a large army ready for battle. Its records were kept by his secretaries Jeiel and Maaseiah under the supervision of Hananiah, a member of the king's staff.

[26:12] The army was commanded by 2,600 officers.

[26:13] Under them were 307,500 soldiers able to fight effectively for the king against his enemies.

[26:14] Uzziah supplied the army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and arrows, and stones for slinging.

[26:15] In Jerusalem his inventors made equipment for shooting arrows and for throwing large stones from the towers and corners of the city wall. His fame spread everywhere, and he became very powerful because of the help he received from God.

[26:16] But when King Uzziah became strong, he grew arrogant, and that led to his downfall. He defied the Lord his God by going into the Temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.

[26:17] Azariah the priest, accompanied by eighty strong and courageous priests, followed the king

[26:18] to resist him. They said, “Uzziah! You have no right to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests who are descended from Aaron have been consecrated to do this. Leave this holy place. You have offended the Lord God, and you no longer have his blessing.”

[26:19] Uzziah was standing there in the Temple beside the incense altar and was holding an incense burner. He became angry with the priests, and immediately a dreaded skin disease broke out on his forehead.

[26:20] Azariah and the other priests stared at the king's forehead in horror and then forced him to leave the Temple. He hurried to get out, because the Lord had punished him.

[26:21] For the rest of his life King Uzziah was ritually unclean because of his disease. Unable to enter the Temple again, he lived in his own house, relieved of all duties, while his son Jotham governed the country.

[26:22] The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz recorded all the other things that King Uzziah did during his reign.

[26:23] Uzziah died and was buried in the royal burial ground, but because of his disease he was not buried in the royal tombs. His son Jotham succeeded him as king.