2 Chronicles 24:17-22

New Catholic Bible

¹⁷ Apostasy of King Joash.^[a] After the death of Jehoiada, the officials came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to their advice. ¹⁸ Then they forsook the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and they began to worship the sacred poles and the idols. Because of their guilt, God’s wrath descended upon Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Although the Lord sent prophets to lead them back to him, they refused to listen.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God took possession of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Why do you transgress the commands of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.’ ”

²¹ However, they conspired against him, and at the king’s order they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord. ²² Thus King Joash, forgetting the loyalty of Zechariah’s father, Jehoiada, killed his son. As he was dying, he said: “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”