Joash Repairs the Temple

24 ^(A)Joash^[a] was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ^2 (B)And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³ Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴ After this Joash ^(C)decided to ^(D)restore the house of the Lord. ⁵ And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of ^(E)Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. ⁶ So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem ^(F)the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for ^(G)the tent of testimony?” ⁷ For ^(H)the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also used all ^(I)the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.

⁸ So the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. ⁹ And ^(J)proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord ^(K)the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.^{[b] 11} And whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king's secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place. Thus they did day after day, and collected money in abundance. ¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. ¹³ So those who were engaged in the work laboured, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it. ¹⁴ And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and with it ^(L)were made utensils for the house of the Lord, both for the service and for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵ But Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and died. He was 130 years old at his death. ¹⁶ And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and towards God and his house.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. ¹⁸ And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served ^(M)the Asherim and the idols. And ^(N)wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. ^19 (O)Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. ^(P)These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.

Joash's Treachery

^20 (Q)Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah ^(R)the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ^(S)‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? ^(T)Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” ²¹ But ^(U)they conspired against him, ^(V)and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. ²² Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see ^(W)and avenge!”^[c]

Joash Assassinated

²³ At the end of the year ^(X)the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, ^(Y)the Lord delivered into their hand a very great army, ^(Z)because Judah^[d] had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. Thus they ^(AA)executed judgement on Joash.

²⁵ When they had departed from him, leaving him ^(AB)severely wounded, ^(AC)his servants conspired against him because of the blood of ^(AD)the son^[e] of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, ^(AE)but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. ²⁶ Those who conspired against him were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite. ²⁷ Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of ^(AF)the rebuilding^[f] of the house of God are written in the ^(AG)Story of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

The Two Witnesses

11 Then I was given ^(A)a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, ² but do not measure ^(B)the court outside the temple; leave that out, for ^(C)it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for ^(D)forty-two months. ³ And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for ^(E)1,260 days, ^(F)clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴ These are ^(G)the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ And if anyone would harm them, ^(H)fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, ^(I)this is how he is doomed to be killed. ⁶ They have the power ^(J)to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and ^(K)to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. ⁷ And when they have finished their testimony, ^(L)the beast that rises from ^(M)the bottomless pit^{[a] (N)}will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, ⁸ and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically^[b] is called ^(O)Sodom and ^(P)Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. ⁹ For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and ^(Q)refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, ¹⁰ and ^(R)those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and ^(S)exchange presents, because these two prophets ^(T)had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹ But after the three and a half days ^(U)a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. ¹² Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ^(V)“Come up here!” And ^(W)they went up to heaven ^(X)in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. ¹³ And at that hour there was ^(Y)a great earthquake, and ^(Z)a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and ^(AA)gave glory to ^(AB)the God of heaven.

^14 (AC)The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵ Then ^(AD)the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and ^(AE)there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ^(AF)“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of ^(AG)his Christ, and ^(AH)he shall reign for ever and ever.” ¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders ^(AI)who sit on their thrones before God ^(AJ)fell on their faces and worshipped God, ¹⁷ saying,

¹⁹ Then ^(AQ)God's temple in heaven was opened, and ^(AR)the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,^[d] peals of thunder, an earthquake, and ^(AS)heavy hail.

A Call for Justice and Mercy

7 ^(A)In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is ^(B)Chislev. ² Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men ^(C)to entreat the favour of the Lord, ^3 (D)saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and ^(E)the prophets, “Should I weep and ^(F)abstain in ^(G)the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: ⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in ^(H)the fifth month and in ^(I)the seventh, for these ^(J)seventy years, ^(K)was it ^(L)for me that you fasted? ^6 (M)And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ^7 (N)Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed ^(O)by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, ^(P)with her cities round her, and the ^(Q)South and the ^(R)lowland were inhabited?”

⁸ And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^(S)Render true judgements, show kindness and mercy to one another, ^10 (T)do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, ^(U)or the poor, and ^(V)let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” ¹¹ But ^(W)they refused to pay attention ^(X)and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.^{[a] 12 (Y)}They made their hearts diamond-hard ^(Z)lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent ^(AA)by his Spirit through ^(AB)the former prophets. ^(AC)Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. ^13 (AD)“As I^[b] called, and they would not hear, ^(AE)so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, ^14 (AF)“and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all ^(AG)the nations that they had not known. ^(AH)Thus the land they left was desolate, ^(AI)so that no one went to and fro, ^(AJ)and the pleasant land was made desolate.”