⁷ Therefore King Joash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage done to the temple? Take no more money from your treasurers, but hand it over for repairing the temple.”

¹⁶ He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.

⁵ He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money^(A) due annually from all Israel,^(B) to repair the temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites^(C) did not act at once.

⁶ Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the Lord and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the covenant law?”^(D)

⁷ Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.

⁸ At the king’s command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the temple of the Lord. ⁹ A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly,^(E) dropping them into the chest until it was full. ¹¹ Whenever the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. ¹² The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work required for the temple of the Lord. They hired^(F) masons and carpenters to restore the Lord’s temple, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the temple.

¹³ The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it. ¹⁴ When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the Lord’s temple: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, and also dishes and other objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the Lord.

23 In the seventh year Jehoiada showed his strength. He made a covenant with the commanders of units of a hundred: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zikri.

³ But Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over.^(A) My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

² Joash did what was right^(A) in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

⁴ In the seventh year Jehoiada sent for the commanders of units of a hundred, the Carites^(A) and the guards and had them brought to him at the temple of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath at the temple of the Lord. Then he showed them the king’s son.