2 Chronicles 24
1 Joash was seven years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba [city].
| בן שבע שנים יאש במלכו וארבעים שנה מלך בירושלם ושם אמו צביה מבאר שבע |
2 Joash did what pleased Yahweh as long as Jehoiada was [the Supreme] Priest.
| ויעש יואש הישר בעיני יהוה כל ימי יהוידע הכהן |
3 Jehoiada chose two women to be Joash’s wives. And they bore Joash sons and daughters.
| וישא לו יהוידע נשים שתים ויולד בנים ובנות |
4 Some years later, Joash decided that the temple should be repaired.
| ויהי אחרי כן היה עם לב יואש לחדש את בית יהוה |
5 He summoned the priests and other descendants of Levi and said to them, “Go to the towns in Judah and collect from the people the tax money that they are required to pay each year, and use that money to pay for repairing the temple. Do it immediately.” But the descendants of Levi did not do it immediately.
| ויקבץ את הכהנים והלוים ויאמר להם צאו לערי יהודה וקבצו מכל ישראל כסף לחזק את בית אלהיכם מדי שנה בשנה ואתם תמהרו לדבר ולא מהרו הלוים |
6 So the king summoned Jehoiada and said to him, “Why have you not required the descendants of Levi to bring to Jerusalem from various places in Judah the annual/yearly tax that Moses said that the people of Judah must pay, for taking care of the Sacred Tent?”
| ויקרא המלך ליהוידע הראש ויאמר לו מדוע לא דרשת על הלוים להביא מיהודה ומירושלם את משאת משה עבד יהוה והקהל לישראל--לאהל העדות |
7 [The temple needed to be repaired] because the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had entered into the temple [and had wrecked some of the things], and had also used some of the sacred items that were in it for [the worship of] Baal.
| כי עתליהו המרשעת בניה פרצו את בית האלהים וגם כל קדשי בית יהוה עשו לבעלים |
8 So, obeying what the king commanded, the descendants of Levi made a chest and placed it outside the temple, at one of the entrances.
| ויאמר המלך ויעשו ארון אחד ויתנהו בשער בית יהוה חוצה |
9 Then the king sent letters everywhere in Judah, requesting everyone to bring their tax money to the temple, like Moses had required the Israeli people to do [when they were] in the desert.
| ויתנו קול ביהודה ובירושלם להביא ליהוה משאת משה עבד האלהים על ישראל--במדבר |
10 All the officials and the other people [agreed, and they] brought their contributions gladly. They put the money into the chest until it was full.
| וישמחו כל השרים וכל העם ויביאו וישליכו לארון עד לכלה |
11 Whenever the descendants of Levi brought the chest to the king’s officials, and they saw that there was a lot of money in it, the king’s secretary and the assistant to the [Supreme] Priest would take all the money from the chest, and then put the chest back in its place. They did this frequently, and they collected a huge amount of money.
| ויהי בעת יביא את הארון אל פקדת המלך ביד הלוים וכראותם כי רב הכסף ובא סופר המלך ופקיד כהן הראש ויערו את הארון וישאהו וישיבהו אל מקמו כה עשו ליום ביום ויאספו כסף לרב |
12 The king and Jehoiada gave the money to the men who were supervising the work of repairing the temple. Those men hired stoneworkers and carpenters to repair the temple. They also hired men who worked with iron and bronze to repair things in the temple [that were broken].
| ויתנהו המלך ויהוידע אל עושה מלאכת עבודת בית יהוה ויהיו שכרים חצבים וחרשים לחדש בית יהוה וגם לחרשי ברזל ונחשת לחזק את בית יהוה |
13 The men who did the repair work worked hard, and the work of repairing the temple progressed. They rebuilt the temple so that it was like it was originally, and they even made it stronger.
| ויעשו עשי המלאכה ותעל ארוכה למלאכה בידם ויעמידו את בית האלהים על מתכנתו--ויאמצהו |
14 When they had finished the repair work, they brought to the king and to Jehoiada the money that they had not used for the repairs. That money was used to make things to use for offering the sacrifices that were completely burned [on the altar], and to make bowls and other gold and silver things for the temple. As long as Joash lived, the people continually brought to the temple sacrifices that were to be completely burned on the altar.
| וככלותם הביאו לפני המלך ויהוידע את שאר הכסף ויעשהו כלים לבית יהוה כלי שרת והעלות וכפות וכלי זהב וכסף ויהיו מעלים עלות בבית יהוה תמיד כל ימי יהוידע |
15 Jehoiada lived to become very old. He died when he was 130 years old.
| ויזקן יהוידע וישבע ימים וימת--בן מאה ושלשים שנה במותו |
16 He was buried where the kings had been buried, in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. [He was buried there] because of the good things that he had done in Judah for God and for God’s temple.
| ויקברהו בעיר דויד עם המלכים כי עשה טובה בישראל ועם האלהים וביתו |
17 After Jehoiada died, the leaders of Judah went to Joash, bowed in front of him, and persuaded him to do what they wanted.
| ואחרי מות יהוידע באו שרי יהודה וישתחוו למלך אז שמע המלך אליהם |
18 So they and the other people stopped worshiping at the temple, and they started worshiping the poles dedicated to [the goddess] Asherah and other idols. Because of their doing those sinful things, God was very angry with the people of Jerusalem and [with the people in other places in] Judah.
| ויעזבו את בית יהוה אלהי אבותיהם ויעבדו את האשרים ואת העצבים ויהי קצף על יהודה וירושלם באשמתם זאת |
19 Although Yahweh sent prophets to persuade them to return to him, and although the prophets told them about the evil things that they had done, the people would not pay attention.
| וישלח בהם נבאים להשיבם אל יהוה ויעידו בם ולא האזינו |
20 Then God’s Spirit came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the [Supreme] Priest. He stood up front of the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why are you disobeying what I, Yahweh, have commanded? You have abandoned me, so I will abandon you.’”
| ורוח אלהים לבשה את זכריה בן יהוידע הכהן ויעמד מעל לעם ויאמר להם כה אמר האלהים למה אתם עברים את מצות יהוה ולא תצליחו--כי עזבתם את יהוה ויעזב אתכם |
21 But the people planned to kill Zechariah. And the king joined them in doing it. The people killed Zechariah by throwing stones at him in the temple courtyard.
| ויקשרו עליו וירגמהו אבן במצות המלך בחצר בית יהוה |
22 King Joash had forgotten about how Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had been kind to him. That’s why he gave orders for the people to kill Jehoiada’s son Zechariah, who said as he was dying, “I hope that Yahweh will see [what you are doing to me] and punish [you for doing it].”
| ולא זכר יואש המלך החסד אשר עשה יהוידע אביו עמו ויהרג את בנו וכמותו אמר ירא יהוה וידרש |
23 Near the end of that year (OR, early in the following year), the army of Syria marched to attack [the army of] Joash. They invaded Judah and attacked Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They [seized many valuable things and] sent them to their king in Damascus, [their capital city.]
| ויהי לתקופת השנה עלה עליו חיל ארם ויבאו אל יהודה וירושלם וישחיתו את כל שרי העם מעם וכל שללם שלחו למלך דרמשק |
24 The army of Syria [that came to Judah] was very small, but Yahweh allowed them to defeat the large army of Judah, because he was punishing Joash and the other people of Judah for having abandoned him, the God whom their ancestors worshiped.
| כי במצער אנשים באו חיל ארם ויהוה נתן בידם חיל לרב מאד--כי עזבו את יהוה אלהי אבותיהם ואת יואש עשו שפטים |
25 Before the battle ended, Joash was severely wounded. Then his officials decided to kill him for murdering Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the [Supreme] Priest. They killed him while he was in his bed. He was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’, but they did not bury him in the place where the other kings had been buried.
| ובלכתם ממנו כי עזבו אתו במחליים רבים התקשרו עליו עבדיו בדמי בני יהוידע הכהן ויהרגהו על מטתו וימת ויקברהו בעיר דויד ולא קברהו בקברות המלכים |
26 Those who conspired to kill him were Zabad the son of Shimeath, who was a woman from the Ammon [people-group], and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith, who was a woman from the Moab [people-group].
| ואלה המתקשרים עליו זבד בן שמעת העמונית ויהוזבד בן שמרית המואבית |
27 An account of the things that were done by the sons of Joash and the many prophecies about Joash and what he did to repair the temple are written in the scroll called ‘the History of the Kings [of Judah and Israel]’. Then after Joash died, Amaziah his son became the king.
| ובניו ורב (ירב) המשא עליו ויסוד בית האלהים--הנם כתובים על מדרש ספר המלכים וימלך אמציהו בנו תחתיו |
