16. He was buried among the kings in David’s City because of his exemplary service to Israel, God, and God’s temple.
17. After Jehoiada’s death, however, the leaders of Judah came and bowed before the king, and the king listened to them.
18. They abandoned the temple of the Lord, their ancestors’ God, and worshipped sacred poles and idols. Anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem as a consequence of their sin,
19. and though God sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord and to warn them, they refused to listen.
20. Then the spirit of God enwrapped Zechariah the son of the priest Jehoiada. Standing before the people, he told them, "This is what God says: Why do you defy the Lord’s commands and keep yourselves from prospering? Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you!"
21. But the people plotted against Zechariah, and at the king’s command stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple.