12 Joash became king of Judah in Jehu’s seventh year as king of Israel, and he ruled for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah, and she was from Beersheba. ² Joash did what the Lord said was right as long as Jehoiada the priest taught him. ³ But the places where gods were worshiped were not removed; the people still made sacrifices and burned incense there.

Joash Repairs the Temple

⁴ Joash said to the priests, “Take all the money brought as offerings to the Temple of the Lord. This includes the money each person owes in taxes and the money each person promises or brings freely to the Lord. ⁵ Each priest will take the money from the people he serves. Then the priests must repair any damage they find in the Temple.”

⁶ But by the twenty-third year Joash was king, the priests still had not repaired the Temple. ⁷ So King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage of the Temple? Don’t take any more money from the people you serve, but hand over the money for the repair of the Temple.” ⁸ The priests agreed not to take any more money from the people and not to repair the Temple themselves.

⁹ Jehoiada the priest took a box and made a hole in the top of it. Then he put it by the altar, on the right side as the people came into the Temple of the Lord. The priests guarding the doorway put all the money brought to the Temple of the Lord into the box.

¹⁰ Each time the priests saw that the box was full of money, the king’s royal secretary and the high priest came. They counted the money that had been brought to the Temple of the Lord, and they put it into bags. ¹¹ Next they weighed the money and gave it to the people in charge of the work on the Temple. With it they paid the carpenters and the builders who worked on the Temple of the Lord, ¹² as well as the bricklayers and stonecutters. They also used the money to buy timber and cut stone to repair the damage of the Temple of the Lord. It paid for everything.

¹³ The money brought into the Temple of the Lord was not used to make silver cups, wick trimmers, bowls, trumpets, or gold or silver vessels. ¹⁴ They paid the money to the workers, who used it to repair the Temple of the Lord. ¹⁵ They did not demand to know how the money was spent, because the workers were honest. ¹⁶ The money from the penalty offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the Temple of the Lord, because it belonged to the priests.

Joash Saves Jerusalem

¹⁷ About this time Hazael king of Aram attacked Gath and captured it. Then he went to attack Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Joash king of Judah took all the holy things given by his ancestors, the kings of Judah—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah. He also took his own holy things as well as the gold that was found in the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord and the gold from the palace. Joash sent all this treasure to Hazael king of Aram, who turned away from Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Everything else Joash did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ²⁰ His officers made plans against him and killed him at Beth Millo on the road down to Silla. ²¹ The officers who killed him were Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer. Joash was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, and Amaziah, his son, became king in his place.