, the son of the high priest Jehoiada, should be stoned to
death in the temple, and forgot the kindnesses he had received from
his father; for when God had appointed him to prophesy, he stood in the
midst of the multitude, and gave this counsel to them and to the king:
That they should act righteously; and foretold to them, that if they
would not hearken to his admonitions, they should suffer a heavy
punishment. But as Zechariah was ready to die, he appealed to God as a
witness of what he suffered for the good counsel he had given them,
and how he perished after a most severe and violent manner for the good
deeds his father had done to Jehoash.

4. However, it was not long before the king suffered punishment for his
transgression; for when Hazael, king of Syria, made an irruption into
his country, and when he had overthrown Gath, and spoiled it, he made an
expedition against Jerusalem; upon which Jehoash was afraid, and emptied
all the treasures of God and of the kings [before him], and took down
the gifts that had been dedicated [in the temple], and sent them to the
king of Syria, and procured so much by them, that he was not besieged,
nor his kingdom quite endangered; but Hazael was induced by the
greatness of the sum of money not to bring his army against Jerusalem;
yet Jehoash fell into a severe distemper, and was set upon by his
friends, in order to revenge the death of Zechariah, the son of
Jehoiada. These laid snares for the king, and slew him. He was indeed
buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal sepulchers of his forefathers,
because of his impiety. He lived forty-seven years, and Amaziah his son
succeeded him in the kingdom.

5. In the one and twentieth year of the reign of Jehoash, Jehoahaz, the
son of Jehu, took the government of the Israelites in Samaria, and held
it seventeen years. He did not [properly] imitate his father, but was
guilty of as wicked practices as hose that first had God in contempt:
but the king of Syria brought him low, and by an expedition against
him did so greatly reduce his forces, that there remained no more of so
great an army than ten thousand armed men, and fifty horsemen. He
also took away from him his great cities, and many of them also, and
destroyed his army. And these were the things that the people of Israel
suffered, according to the prophecy of Elisha, when he foretold that
Hazael should kill his master, and reign over the Syrians and Damcenes.
But when Jehoahaz was un