20. Then the spirit of God clothed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He took his stand above the people and said to them: “Thus says God, Why are you transgressing the Lord’s commands, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.”
21. But they conspired against him, and at the king’s command they stoned him in the court of the house of the Lord.
22. Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him by Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, and killed the son. As he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge.”
23. At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, killed all the princes of the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.
24. Though the Aramean force was small, the Lord handed over a very large force into their power, because Judah had abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors. So judgment was meted out to Joash.