Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, thuus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you. So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son; and as he died, he said, The Lord look on it, and repay!
King Joash began his reign with such promise. He was faithful to the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. But when the priest died, Joash turned away from the truth he had been taught from his youth. He that endures to the end will be saved.
