^2 (A)And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

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 ^(A)the Asherim and the idols. And ^(B)wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. ^19 (C)Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. ^(D)These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.

Joash's Treachery

^20 (E)Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah ^(F)the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ^(G)‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? ^(H)Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” ²¹ But ^(I)they conspired against him, ^(J)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 ^(K)and avenge!”^[a]