Jehoash Reigns in Judah

^{21 [a] (A)}Jehoash^[b] was seven years old when he began to reign.

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash^[c] began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ² And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³ Nevertheless, ^(B)the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.

Jehoash Repairs the Temple

⁴ Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things ^(C)that is brought into the house of the Lord, the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and ^(D)the money that a man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord, ⁵ let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.” ⁶ But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house. ⁷ Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your donors, but hand it over for the repair of the house.” ⁸ So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.

⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took ^(E)a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the Lord. And the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁰ And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest came up and they bagged and counted ^(F)the money that was found in the house of the Lord. ¹¹ Then they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord. And they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of the Lord, ¹² and ^(G)to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the Lord, and for any outlay for the repairs of the house. ^13 (H)But there were not made for the house of the Lord ^(I)basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, ¹⁴ for that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the Lord with it. ¹⁵ And ^(J)they did not ask for an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly. ¹⁶ The money from ^(K)the guilt offerings and the money from the ^(L)sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord; ^(M)it belonged to the priests.

¹⁷ At that time ^(N)Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face ^(O)to go up against Jerusalem, ¹⁸ Jehoash king of Judah ^(P)took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, ^(Q)and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.

The Death of Joash

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^20 (R)His servants arose and made a conspiracy ^(S)and struck down Joash in the house of ^(T)Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. ²¹ It was ^(U)Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of ^(V)Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, ^(W)and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

²⁵ Thus says the Lord: ^(A)If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^(B)For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah ^(A)had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem ^(B)to make a proclamation of liberty to them, ^9 (C)that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, ^(D)so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰ And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves ^(E)they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. ¹² The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ¹³ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when ^(F)I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ^14 (G)‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ^(H)you must set him free from your service.’ But ^(I)your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. ¹⁵ You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^(J)by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^(K)you made a covenant before me in the ^(L)house that is called by my name, ¹⁶ but then you turned around ^(M)and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, ^(N)whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

¹⁷ “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me ^(O)by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ^(P)behold, I proclaim to you liberty ^(Q)to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. ^(R)I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^(S)the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like^{[a] (T)}the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ^(U)the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰ And I will give them into the hand of their enemies ^(V)and into the hand of those who seek their lives. ^(W)Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And ^(X)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon ^(Y)which has withdrawn from you. ²² Behold, ^(Z)I will command, declares the Lord, and will ^(AA)bring them back to this city. ^(AB)And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^(AC)I will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^(AD)without inhabitant.”