2 Chronicles 24:20-25

24:20 God’s Spirit energized ¹  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 disregarded ²  the loyalty his father Jehoiada had shown him and killed Jehoiada’s ³  son. As Zechariah ⁴  was dying, he said, “May the Lord take notice and seek vengeance!” ⁵ 

24:23 At the beginning ⁶  of the year the Syrian army attacked ⁷  Joash ⁸  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, ⁹  for the people of Judah ¹⁰  had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. The Syrians ¹¹  gave Joash what he deserved. ¹²  24:25 When they withdrew, they left Joash ¹³  badly wounded. His servants plotted against him because of what he had done to ¹⁴  the son ¹⁵  of Jehoiada the priest. They murdered him on his bed. Thus ¹⁶  he died and was buried in the City of David, ¹⁷  but not in the tombs of the kings.

¹ tn Heb “clothed.”

² tn Heb “did not remember.”

³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Jehoiada) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Zechariah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “and seek [ – ].” The direct object of “seek” is omitted in the Hebrew text but implied; “vengeance” is supplied for clarification.

⁶ tn Heb “turning.”

⁷ tn Heb “went up against.”

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

⁹ tn 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.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Syrians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “executed judgments [on] Joash.”

¹³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joash) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Heb “because of the shed blood of.”

¹⁵ tc The MT has the plural בְּנֵי (bÿney, “sons”), but the final yod is dittographic. Note the yod that immediately follows.

¹⁶ tn Heb “and he died.”

¹⁷ sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.