Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 24:22
Thus King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him. Instead, Joash killed Jehoiada’s son. As he lay dying, Zechariah said, “May the LORD see this and call you to account.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records King Joash’s failure to honor Jehoiada’s past loyalty, then quotes Zechariah’s dying words spoken as he is stoned in the temple courtyard. Zechariah addresses Joash directly, invoking divine judgment for the unjust execution.
The words — The Hebrew זָכַר (za.Khar) literally means “he remembered,” paired with הַחֶסֶד (ha.Che.sed), meaning “loyalty” or “covenant kindness,” to denote Joash’s deliberate omission of owed gratitude.
The thread — This appeal for divine accounting echoes Genesis 9:5’s demand that God require the life shed by human hands, and Jesus later cites Zechariah’s martyrdom as a benchmark of prophetic bloodshed in Luke 11:51.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that unrepaid covenant loyalty invites divine scrutiny, requiring the reader to confront how leadership and power operate under divine oversight rather than human immunity.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.
Cross-references
- Genesis 9:5 And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
- Luke 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, all of it will be charged to this generation.
- John 10:32 But Jesus responded, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?”
- Revelation 6:9 And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld.
- Revelation 19:2 For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her hand.”
- Psalms 10:14 But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.
- Psalms 109:4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
- Proverbs 17:13 If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never leave his house.
- Jeremiah 11:20 O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.
- Jeremiah 26:14 As for me, here I am in your hands; do to me what you think is good and right.