¹¹ So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel—all his great men, close friends, and priests—leaving him no survivors.

Evaluation of Jehu’s Reign

²⁸ Jehu eliminated Baal worship from Israel, ²⁹ but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—worshiping the gold calves that were in Bethel and Dan.^{(A) 30} Nevertheless, the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”^(B)

³¹ Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.

³² In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel.^(C) Hazael^(D) defeated the Israelites throughout their territory:

Judah’s King Joash

^21 [a]Joash^[b](A) was seven years old when he became king.^(B) 12 ¹ In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king and reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah, who was from Beer-sheba.^{(C) 2} Throughout the time Jehoiada^(D) the priest instructed^(E) him, Joash did what was right in the Lord’s sight.^{(F) 3} Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.^(G)

Repairing the Temple

⁴ Then^(H) Joash said to the priests, “All the dedicated money brought to the Lord’s temple,^(I) census money,^(J) money from vows,^(K) and all money voluntarily given^(L) for the Lord’s temple, ⁵ each priest is to take from his assessor^[c] and repair whatever damage to the temple is found.”^[d](M)

⁶ But by the twenty-third year^(N) of the reign of King Joash, the priests had not repaired the damage^[e] to the temple.^{(O) 7} So King Joash called Jehoiada^(P) the priest and the other priests and said, “Why haven’t you repaired the temple’s damage? Since you haven’t, don’t take any money from your assessors; instead, hand it over for the repair of the temple.” ⁸ So the priests agreed they would not take money from the people and they would not repair the temple’s damage.

⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest,^(Q) bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the Lord’s temple; in it the priests who guarded the threshold put all the money brought into the Lord’s temple.^{(R) 10} Whenever they saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king’s secretary^(S) and the high priest would go to the Lord’s temple and count the money found there and tie it up in bags.^{(T) 11} Then they would put the counted money into the hands of those doing the work—those who oversaw the Lord’s temple. They in turn would pay it out to those working on the Lord’s temple—the carpenters, the builders, ¹² the masons, and the stonecutters—and would use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the damage to the Lord’s temple^(U) and for all spending for temple repairs.

¹³ However, no silver bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver^(V) were made for the Lord’s temple from the money brought into the temple. ¹⁴ Instead, it was given to those doing the work, and they repaired the Lord’s temple with it. ¹⁵ No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay those doing the work, since they worked with integrity.^{(W) 16} The money from the restitution offering and the sin offering was not brought to the Lord’s temple since it belonged to the priests.^(X)

Jehoiada’s Reforms

¹⁶ Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, the king, and the people that they would be the Lord’s people. ¹⁷ So all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They broke its altars and images into pieces and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars.^(A)

¹⁸ Then Jehoiada put the oversight of the Lord’s temple into the hands of the Levitical priests,^(B) whom David had appointed^(C) over the Lord’s temple, to offer burnt offerings to the Lord as it is written in the law of Moses,^(D) with rejoicing and song ordained by^[a] David.

Joash’s Apostasy

¹⁵ Jehoiada died when he was old and full of days; he was 130 years old at his death. ¹⁶ He was buried in the city of David with the kings^(A) because he had done what was good in Israel with respect to God and His temple.