The Death of Joash

In the spring, a small Aramean force enters Judah, destroys its leaders, and sends plunder to Damascus because the LORD has given a much larger Judah into its hand. Joash is left badly wounded, and his servants kill him on his bed for the blood he shed, burying him in the City of David but not among the kings.

I²³n the spring, the army of Aram went to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people, and they sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. ²⁴Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the LORD delivered into their hand a very great army. Because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, judgment was executed on Joash. ²⁵And when the Arameans had withdrawn, they left Joash severely wounded. His own servants conspired against him for shedding the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

The conspirators are named, and the chapter closes by pointing to written accounts of Joash’s sons, the pronouncements about him, and the temple restoration. Amaziah then succeeds him as king.

²⁶Those who conspired against Joash were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess. ²⁷The accounts of the sons of Joash and the many pronouncements about him, and of the restoration of the house of God, are indeed written in the Treatise of the Book of the Kings. And his son Amaziah reigned in his place.