11 When ‘Atalyah the mother of Achazyah saw that her son was dead, she set about destroying the entire royal family. ² But Y’hosheva the daughter of King Yoram, sister of Achazyah, took Yo’ash the son of Achazyah and stole him away from among the princes who were being slaughtered. She took him and his nurse, sequestered them in a bedroom, and hid them from ‘Atalyah, so that he was not killed. ³ He remained hidden with his nurse in the house of Adonai for six years; during this time ‘Atalyah ruled the land. ⁴ In the seventh year Y’hoyada summoned the captains of hundred-man platoons, of both the Kari and the guard. He brought them into the house of Adonai, made an agreement with them and had them swear to it in the house of Adonai. Then he showed them the king’s son ⁵ and gave them this instruction: “Here is what you are to do: of you who come on duty on Shabbat, a third [normally] guards the royal palace, ⁶ a third is at the Sur Gate and a third is at the gate behind the guards. [The first third] is to continue guarding the palace and serve as a barrier, ⁷ while the other two groups of you who come on duty on Shabbat will guard the house of Adonai, where the king is. ⁸ You are to surround the king, each man with his weapons in his hand. Anyone who penetrates the ranks is to be killed. Stay with the king whenever he leaves or enters.”

⁹ The captains over hundreds did exactly as Y’hoyada the cohen ordered. Each took his men, those coming on duty on Shabbat and those going off duty on Shabbat, and came to Y’hoyada the cohen. ¹⁰ The cohen issued to the captains of hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David’s and were kept in the house of Adonai. ¹¹ The guards then took positions, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, alongside the altar, alongside [the exterior of] the house and around the king. ¹² Then he brought out the king’s son, crowned him, gave him [a copy of] the testimony and thus made him king; they anointed him, clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”

¹³ When ‘Atalyah heard the shouting of the guard and the people, she entered the house of Adonai where the people were, ¹⁴ looked and saw the king standing there on the platform, in keeping with the rule, with the leaders and trumpeters next to the king. All the people of the land were celebrating and blowing the trumpets. At this ‘Atalyah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!” ¹⁵ Y’hoyada the cohen ordered the captains of hundreds, the army officers, “Escort her out past the ranks [of guards]; but anyone who follows her, kill with the sword.” For the cohen had said, “She must not be put to death in the house of Adonai.” ¹⁶ So they took her by force and led her through the horses’ entry to the royal palace, and there she was put to death.

¹⁷ Y’hoyada made a covenant between Adonai, the king and the people, that they would be Adonai’s people, and [a covenant] between the king and the people. ¹⁸ Then all the people of the land went to the house of Ba‘al and broke it down; they completely smashed its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Ba‘al in front of the altars.

Next, the cohen appointed officers over the house of Adonai. ¹⁹ He took the captains of hundreds, the Kari, the guards and all the people of the land; and they brought the king down from the house of Adonai, going by way of the gate of the guards to the royal palace. There he sat on the throne of the kings. ²⁰ All the people of the land celebrated, and at last the city was quiet. That is how they killed ‘Atalyah with the sword at the royal palace.

12 ^(11:21) Y’ho’ash was seven years old when he began his reign. ^2 (1) It was in the seventh year of Yehu that Y’ho’ash began to rule, and he ruled forty years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Tzivyah, from Be’er-Sheva. ^3 (2) Y’ho’ash did what was right from Adonai’s perspective throughout the lifetime of Y’hoyada the cohen, who instructed him. ^4 (3) Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and presented offerings on the high places.

^5 (4) Y’ho’ash said to the cohanim, “All the funds for sacred purposes which are brought to the house of Adonai — the half-shekel tax, the taxes on persons in a man’s household, and all the offerings anyone voluntarily brings to the house of Adonai — ^6 (5) the cohanim are to receive from whoever personally makes contributions to them; and they are to use these funds to repair the damaged parts of the house, wherever damage is found. ^7 (6) But twenty-three years into the reign of King Y’ho’ash, the cohanim had still not repaired the damaged places in the house. ^8 (7) So King Y’ho’ash summoned Y’hoyada the cohen and the other cohanim and said to them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damaged places in the house? Therefore, you are no longer to take money from those who contribute it personally to you; you must hand it over to be used for repairing the damage in the house.” ^9 (8) The cohanim agreed not to receive money from the people, and they would no longer be responsible for repairing the damage to the house.

^10 (9) Then Y’hoyada the cohen took a chest, drilled a hole in its lid and set it by the altar, on the right, as one enters the house of Adonai; and the cohanim in charge of the entry put in it all the money brought into the house of Adonai. ^11 (10) When they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the cohen hagadol would come up, count the money found in the house of Adonai and put it in bags. ^12 (11) Then they would give the weighed-out money to those supervising the work in the house of Adonai, who would use it to pay the carpenters and construction-workers doing the work in the house of Adonai, ^13 (12) on masons, stone-workers, timber, worked stone and everything else needed for repairing the damaged places in the house of Adonai. ^14 (13) But none of the money brought into the house of Adonai was used to make silver cups, snuffers, bowls, trumpets or other articles of gold or silver for the house of Adonai; ^15 (14) because they gave the money to those doing the work, thus restricting its use to repairing the damage in the house of Adonai. ^16 (15) Moreover, they did not require an accounting from the supervisors given the money to pay the workers, because they dealt honestly. ^17 (16) Money from guilt offerings and sin offerings, however, was not brought into the house of Adonai; it went to the cohanim.

^18 (17) Haza’el king of Aram went up and fought against Gat; and after capturing it, Haza’el made his decision to attack Yerushalayim. ^19 (18) Y’ho’ash king of Y’hudah took all the consecrated articles that Y’hoshafat, Y’horam and Achazyah, his ancestors, kings of Y’hudah, had dedicated, as well as his own consecrated articles and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of Adonai and of the royal palace, and sent them to Haza’el king of Aram, who then withdrew from Yerushalayim.

^20 (19) Other activities of Yo’ash and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

^21 (20) Then his servants got together, formed a conspiracy and murdered Yo’ash at Beit-Millo on the way down to Sila. ^22 (21) His servants Yozakhar the son of Shim‘at and Y’hozavad the son of Shomer struck him, so that he died. They buried him with his ancestors in the City of David, and Amatzyah his son took his place as king.

24 Yo’ash was seven years old when he began his reign, and he reigned forty years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Tzivyah, from Be’er-Sheva. ² Yo’ash did what was right from Adonai’s perspective throughout the lifetime of Y’hoyada the cohen. ³ Y’hoyada chose two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters.

⁴ Some time later, Yo’ash decided to restore the house of Adonai. ⁵ He gathered the cohanim and L’vi’im and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Y’hudah, and collect money each year from all Isra’el to repair the house of your God. See that you do this promptly.” But when the L’vi’im procrastinated, ⁶ the king summoned Y’hoyada the chief and said to him, “Why haven’t you demanded that the L’vi’im bring in from Y’hudah and Yerushalayim the tax prescribed by Moshe the servant of Adonai and by the community of Isra’el, for the tent of the testimony?” ⁷ For the sons of that wicked ‘Atalyahu had broken up the house of God, and they had given all the consecrated things belonging to the house of Adonai to the ba‘alim.

⁸ Then, at the king’s order, they made a box and placed it outside the entrance to the house of Adonai. ⁹ They proclaimed throughout Y’hudah and Yerushalayim that the tax Moshe the servant of God had imposed on Isra’el in the desert should be brought in for Adonai. ¹⁰ All the leaders and all the people were glad to bring in their contributions and put them in the box, until it was full. ¹¹ When the box was brought to the king’s officials by the L’vi’im, and when they saw how much money there was, the king’s secretary and the chief cohen’s official came and emptied the box; then they took it and returned it to its place. They did this daily, and they collected money in abundance.

¹² The king and Y’hoyada gave it to those in charge of taking care of the house of Adonai. They, in turn, hired stone-workers and carpenters to restore the house of Adonai, also iron- and bronze-workers to repair the house of Adonai. ¹³ The workers got on with their tasks, so that the restoration progressed well, until they had returned the house of God to its earlier condition and strengthened it. ¹⁴ When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Y’hoyada, and it was used to make equipment for the house of Adonai — articles for ministry, buckets, fire pans, and utensils of gold and silver. So they offered burnt offerings in the house of Adonai regularly throughout the time of Y’hoyada.

¹⁵ But Y’hoyada grew old; and when he was full of days, he died. He was 130 years old when he died. ¹⁶ They buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had served Isra’el, God and his house well.

¹⁷ After Y’hoyada died, the leaders of Y’hudah came and prostrated themselves before the king. Then the king listened to them; ¹⁸ and they abandoned the house of Adonai the God of their ancestors and served the sacred poles and the idols. In consequence of their guilt, [God’s] anger fell on Y’hudah and Yerushalayim. ¹⁹ In spite of this, he sent them prophets to bring them back to Adonai; they warned them, but they wouldn’t pay attention. ²⁰ The Spirit of God covered Z’kharyah the son of Y’hoyada the cohen; he stood above the people and addressed them: “Thus says God: ‘Why are you transgressing the mitzvot of Adonai and courting disaster? Because you have abandoned Adonai, he has abandoned you.” ²¹ But they conspired against him and stoned him to death at the order of the king in the courtyard of the house of Adonai. ²² Thus Yo’ash the king did not remember the kindness which Y’hoyada, [Z’kharyah’s] father, had done for him, but put his son to death. As he was dying he said, “May Adonai see this and take vengeance!”

²³ The following spring, the army of Aram came up against him. They attacked Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, slaughtered all the people’s leaders and sent all their spoil to the king of Dammesek. ²⁴ Although the army of Aram attacked with only a small company of men, Adonai handed over a very great army to them, because they had abandoned Adonai the God of their ancestors. Thus they executed judgment against Yo’ash.

²⁵ After they had left him — and they left him seriously wounded — his own servants conspired against him because he had shed the blood of the sons of Y’hoyada the cohen; and they killed him in his own bed. After he died, they buried him in the City of David, but they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings. ²⁶ Those who conspired against him were Zavad the son of Shim‘at the ‘Amonit and Y’hozavad the son of Shimrit the Mo’avit.

²⁷ As for his sons, the heavy tribute imposed on him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, they are recorded in the commentary of the Annals of the Kings. Then Amatzyahu his son took his place as king.

6 Those who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as worthy of full respect, so that the name of God and the teaching will not be brought into disrepute. ² And those who have believing masters are not to show them less respect on the ground that they are brothers; on the contrary, they should serve all the more diligently, since those benefiting from their service are believers whom they love.

Teach and exhort people about these things. ³ If anyone teaches differently and does not agree to the sound precepts of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and to the doctrine that is in keeping with godliness, ⁴ he is swollen with conceit and understands nothing. Instead, he has a morbid desire for controversies and word-battles, out of which come jealousy, dissension, insults, evil suspicions, ⁵ and constant wrangling among people whose minds no longer function properly and who have been deprived of the truth, so that they imagine that religion is a road to riches. ⁶ Now true religion does bring great riches, but only to those who are content with what they have. ⁷ For we have brought nothing into the world; and we can take nothing out of it; ⁸ so if we have food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these. ⁹ Furthermore, those whose goal is to be rich fall into temptation; they get trapped in many foolish and hurtful ambitions which plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all the evils; because of this craving, some people have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves to the heart with many pains.

¹¹ But you, as a man of God, flee from these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, steadfastness, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you testified so well to your faith before many witnesses. ¹³ I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before the Messiah Yeshua, who in his witness to Pontius Pilate gave the same good testimony, ¹⁴ to obey your commission spotlessly and irreproachably until our Lord Yeshua the Messiah appears. ¹⁵ His appearing will be brought about in its own time by the blessed and sole Sovereign, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal, who dwells in unapproachable light that no human being has ever seen or can see — to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

¹⁷ As for those who do have riches in this present world, charge them not to be proud and not to let their hopes rest on the uncertainties of riches but to rest their hopes on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Charge them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and ready to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may lay hold of the real life.

²⁰ Oh, Timothy! Keep safe what has been entrusted to you. Turn away from the ungodly babblings and the argumentative opposition of what is falsely called “knowledge.” ²¹ For many who promise this “knowledge” have missed the mark, as far as the faith is concerned. Grace be with you.