Aramean Invasion of Judah

²³ At the turn of the year, an Aramean army attacked Joash.^(A) They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, the Lord handed over^(B) a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned^(C) the Lord, the God of their ancestors. So they executed judgment on Joash.

Joash Assassinated

²⁵ When^(D) the Arameans saw that Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants conspired against him, and killed him on his bed, because he had shed the blood of the sons of the priest Jehoiada. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.^(E)

²⁶ Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of the Ammonite woman Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of the Moabite woman Shimrith.^{[a](F) 27} The accounts concerning his sons, the many divine pronouncements about him, and the restoration^(G) of God’s temple are recorded in the Writing^(H) of the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah became king in his place.