2 Chronicles 24:18-27

24:18 They abandoned the temple of the Lord God of their ancestors,¹ and worshiped² the Asherah poles and idols. Because of this sinful activity, God was angry with Judah and Jerusalem. 24:19 The Lord sent prophets among them to lead them back to him.³ They warned⁴ the people, but they would not pay attention. 24:20 God’s Spirit energized⁵ Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why are you violating the commands of the Lord? You will not be prosperous! Because you have rejected the Lord, he has rejected you!’” 24:21 They plotted against him and by royal decree stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 24:22 King Joash disregarded⁶ the loyalty his father Jehoiada had shown him and killed Jehoiada’s⁷ son. As Zechariah⁸ was dying, he said, “May the Lord take notice and seek vengeance!”⁹

24:23 At the beginning¹⁰ of the year the Syrian army attacked¹¹ Joash¹² and invaded Judah and Jerusalem. They wiped out all the leaders of the people and sent all the plunder they gathered to the king of Damascus. 24:24 Even though the invading Syrian army was relatively weak, the Lord handed over to them Judah’s very large army,¹³ for the people of Judah¹⁴ had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. The Syrians¹⁵ gave Joash what he deserved.¹⁶ 24:25 When they withdrew, they left Joash¹⁷ badly wounded. His servants plotted against him because of what he had done to¹⁸ the son¹⁹ of Jehoiada the priest. They murdered him on his bed. Thus²⁰ he died and was buried in the City of David,²¹ but not in the tombs of the kings. 24:26 The conspirators were Zabad son of Shimeath (an Ammonite woman) and Jehozabad son of Shimrith (a Moabite woman).

24:27 The list of Joash’s²² sons, the many prophetic oracles pertaining to him, and the account of his building project on God’s temple are included in the record of the Scroll of the Kings.²³ His son Amaziah replaced him as king.

¹tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 24).

²tn Heb “served.”

³tn Heb “and he sent among them prophets to bring them back to the Lord.”

⁴tn Heb “testified among.”

⁵tn Heb “clothed.”

⁶tn Heb “did not remember.”

⁷tn Heb “his”; the referent (Jehoiada) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸tn Heb “he”; the referent (Zechariah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹tn Heb “and seek [ – ].” The direct object of “seek” is omitted in the Hebrew text but implied; “vengeance” is supplied for clarification.

¹⁰tn Heb “turning.”

¹¹tn Heb “went up against.”

¹²tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joash) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³tn Heb “though with a small amount of men the army of Aram came, the Lord gave into their hand an army [that was] very large.”

¹⁴tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Syrians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶tn Heb “executed judgments [on] Joash.”

¹⁷tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joash) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁸tn Heb “because of the shed blood of.”

¹⁹tc The MT has the plural בְּנֵי (bÿney, “sons”), but the final yod is dittographic. Note the yod that immediately follows.

²⁰tn Heb “and he died.”

²¹sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.

²²tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joash) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²³tn Heb “And his sons and the abundance of the oracle[s] against him, and the founding of the house of God, look are they not written on the writing of the scroll of the kings?”