Joash Repairs the Temple^(A)

24 Joash ^(B)was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ² Joash ^(C)did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³ And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴ Now it happened after this that Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the Lord. ⁵ Then he gathered the priests and the Levites, and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah, and ^(D)gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you do it quickly.”

However the Levites did not do it quickly. ^6 (E)So the king called Jehoiada the chief priest, and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of ^(F)Moses the servant of the Lord and of the assembly of Israel, for the ^(G)tabernacle of witness?” ⁷ For ^(H)the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also presented all the ^(I)dedicated things of the house of the Lord to the Baals.

⁸ Then at the king’s command ^(J)they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of the Lord. ⁹ And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the Lord ^(K)the collection that Moses the servant of God had imposed on Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ Then all the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought their contributions, and put them into the chest until all had given. ¹¹ So it was, at that time, when the chest was brought to the king’s official by the hand of the Levites, and ^(L)when they saw that there was much money, that the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.

¹² The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the Lord; and they hired masons and carpenters to ^(M)repair the house of the Lord, and also those who worked in iron and bronze to restore the house of the Lord. ¹³ So the workmen labored, and the work was completed by them; they restored the house of God to its original condition and reinforced it. ¹⁴ When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; ^(N)they made from it articles for the house of the Lord, articles for serving and offering, spoons and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.

Apostasy of Joash

¹⁵ But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died. ¹⁶ And they buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and His house.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them. ¹⁸ Therefore they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served ^(O)wooden images and idols; and ^(P)wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass. ¹⁹ Yet He ^(Q)sent prophets to them, to bring them back to the Lord; and they testified against them, but they would not listen.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God ^[a]came upon ^(R)Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God: ^(S)‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? ^(T)Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.’ ” ²¹ So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they ^(U)stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. ²² Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his ^[b]father had done to him, but killed his son; and as he died, he said, “The Lord look on it, and ^(V)repay!”

Death of Joash^(W)

²³ So it happened in the spring of the year that ^(X)the army of Syria came up against him; and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people, and sent all their ^[c]spoil to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ For the army of the Syrians ^(Y)came with a small company of men; but the Lord ^(Z)delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they ^(AA)executed judgment against Joash. ²⁵ And when they had withdrawn from him (for they left him severely wounded), ^(AB)his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the ^[d]sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died. And they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

²⁶ These are the ones who conspired against him: ^[e]Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of ^[f]Shimrith the Moabitess. ²⁷ Now concerning his sons, and ^(AC)the many oracles about him, and the repairing of the house of God, indeed they are written in the ^[g]annals of the book of the kings. ^(AD)Then Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Jehoash Repairs the Temple^(A)

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, ^(B)Jehoash^[a] became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ² Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days in which ^(C)Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³ But ^(D)the ^[b]high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁴ And Jehoash said to the priests, ^(E)“All the money of the dedicated gifts that are brought into the house of the Lord—each man’s ^(F)census^[c] money, each man’s ^(G)assessment money—and all the money that ^[d]a man ^(H)purposes in his heart to bring into the house of the Lord, ⁵ let the priests take it themselves, each from his constituency; and let them repair the ^[e]damages of the temple, wherever any dilapidation is found.”

⁶ Now it was so, by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, ^(I)that the priests had not repaired the damages of the temple. ^7 (J)So King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damages of the temple? Now therefore, do not take more money from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple.” ⁸ And the priests agreed that they would neither receive more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the temple.

⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took ^(K)a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the Lord; and the priests who ^[f]kept the door put ^(L)there all the money brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁰ So it was, whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s ^(M)scribe^[g] and the high priest came up and ^[h]put it in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord. ¹¹ Then they gave the money, which had been apportioned, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they ^[i]paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the Lord, ¹² and to masons and stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone, to ^(N)repair the damage of the house of the Lord, and for all that was paid out to repair the temple. ¹³ However ^(O)there were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling-bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁴ But they gave that to the workmen, and they repaired the house of the Lord with it. ¹⁵ Moreover ^(P)they did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to workmen, for they dealt faithfully. ^16 (Q)The money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord. ^(R)It belonged to the priests.

Hazael Threatens Jerusalem

^17 (S)Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; then ^(T)Hazael set his face to ^[j]go up to Jerusalem. ¹⁸ And Jehoash king of Judah ^(U)took all the sacred things that his fathers, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things, and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and in the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

Death of Joash^(V)

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of ^[k]Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁰ And ^(W)his servants arose and formed a conspiracy, and killed Joash in the house of ^[l]the Millo, which goes down to Silla. ²¹ For ^[m]Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of ^[n]Shomer, his servants, struck him. So he died, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then ^(X)Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic^(A)

9 So He got into a boat, crossed over, ^(B)and came to His own city. ^2 (C)Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. ^(D)When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

³ And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”

⁴ But Jesus, ^(E)knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? ⁶ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” ⁷ And he arose and departed to his house.

⁸ Now when the multitudes saw it, they ^(F)marveled^[a] and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

Matthew the Tax Collector^(G)

^9 (H)As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

^10 (I)Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with ^(J)tax collectors and ^(K)sinners?”

¹² When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ^(L)‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, ^(M)but sinners, ^[b]to repentance.”

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(N)

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, ^(O)“Why do we and the Pharisees fast ^[c]often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Can ^(P)the ^[d]friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and ^(Q)then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ^[e]the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. ¹⁷ Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins ^[f]break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed^(R)

^18 (S)While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” ¹⁹ So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His ^(T)disciples.

^20 (U)And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and ^(V)touched the hem of His garment. ²¹ For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” ²² But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; ^(W)your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

^23 (X)When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw ^(Y)the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, ²⁴ He said to them, ^(Z)“Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. ²⁵ But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and ^(AA)took her by the hand, and the girl arose. ²⁶ And the ^(AB)report of this went out into all that land.

Two Blind Men Healed

²⁷ When Jesus departed from there, ^(AC)two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, ^(AD)“Son of David, have mercy on us!”

²⁸ And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, ^(AE)“See that no one knows it.” ^31 (AF)But when they had departed, they ^[g]spread the news about Him in all that ^[h]country.

A Mute Man Speaks

^32 (AG)As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. ³³ And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!”

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, ^(AH)“He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

The Compassion of Jesus^(AI)

³⁵ Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, ^(AJ)teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease ^[i]among the people. ^36 (AK)But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were ^[j]weary and scattered, ^(AL)like sheep having no shepherd. ³⁷ Then He said to His disciples, ^(AM)“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ^38 (AN)Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

God the Righteous Judge

A Psalm of Asaph.