歷代志下 第 24 章

Joas was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Sabia, from Bersabee.

And Joas did what was right before the Lord all the days of Jodae the priest.

And Jodae took two wives for him, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And it came to pass after this that it came into the heart of Joas to repair the house of the Lord.

And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah and gather silver from all Israel to strengthen the house of the Lord, year by year; and make haste to speak of it. But the Levites did not make haste.

And King Joas called Jodae the chief and said to him, Why have you not overseen the Levites, to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem what was determined by Moses the man of God, when he assembled Israel at the tent of witness?

For Gotholia was the lawless one, and her sons had pulled down the house of God; and moreover they had used the holy things of the house of the Lord for the Baalim.

And the king said, Let a chest be made and set outside at the gate of the house of the Lord.

And let them proclaim in Judah and in Jerusalem that they bring in to the Lord what Moses the servant of God commanded concerning Israel in the wilderness.

And all the rulers and all the people gave, and they brought in and cast into the chest until it was full.

And it came to pass, when they brought in the chest to the king's officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that the silver had increased, that the king's scribe and the officer of the high priest came and emptied the chest and set it back in its place. Thus they did day by day, and they gathered much silver.

And the king and Jodae the priest gave it to those who did the works for the service of the house of the Lord; and they hired stonecutters and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord.

And those who did the works worked, and the extent of the works increased in their hands; and they restored the house of the Lord to its own standing and strengthened it.

And when they had finished, they brought to the king and to Jodae the remainder of the silver, and they made vessels for the house of the Lord, vessels for the service of whole burnt offerings, and censers of gold and of silver. And they offered up whole burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually, all the days of Jodae.

And Jodae grew old and full of days and died, being one hundred and thirty years old when he died.

And they buried him in the city of David with the kings, because he had done good with Israel and with God and with his house.

And it came to pass after the death of Jodae that the rulers of Judah came in and did obeisance to the king; then the king listened to them.

And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Astartes and the idols; and wrath came upon Judah and upon Jerusalem on this day.

And he sent prophets to them, to turn them back to the Lord, but they did not listen; and they testified against them, but they did not listen.

And the Spirit of God clothed Azarias the son of Jodae the priest, and he stood up above the people and said, Thus says the Lord: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you will not prosper? For you have forsaken the Lord, and he will forsake you.

And they conspired against him and stoned him, by command of Joas the king, in the court of the house of the Lord.

And Joas did not remember the mercy that Jodae his father had shown him, but he put his son to death. And as he was dying he said, May the Lord see and judge.

And it came to pass, after the end of the year, that the force of Syria went up against him and came against Judah and against Jerusalem, and they destroyed all the rulers of the people among the people, and all their spoils they sent to the king of Damascus.

For the force of Syria came with few men, yet God delivered into their hands a very great force, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. And with Joas he executed judgments.

And after they departed from him, when they left him in great sicknesses, his servants conspired against him for the blood of the son of Jodae the priest, and they put him to death on his bed, and he died. And they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tomb of the kings.

And those who conspired against him were Zabed son of Samath the Ammonite, and Jozabed son of Somaroth the Moabite.

And all his sons, and the five who came to him, and the rest, behold, they are written in the writing of the kings. And Amasias his son reigned in his place.