12 ^[a]Joash began to rule in Jehu’s seventh year as king of Israel, and he ruled for 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. ² Joash did what Yahweh considered right, as long as the priest Jehoiada instructed him. ³ But the illegal places of worship weren’t torn down. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at these worship sites.

⁴ Joash told the priests, “Collect all the holy contributions that are brought into Yahweh’s temple—the money each person is currently required to bring and all the money brought voluntarily to Yahweh’s temple. ⁵ Each of the priests should receive it from the donors and use it to make repairs on the temple where they are needed.”

⁶ But by Joash’s twenty-third year as king, the priests still had not repaired the temple. ⁷ So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage in the temple? Don’t take any more money from the donors for your own use. Instead, use it to make repairs on the temple.” ⁸ The priests agreed neither to receive money from the people for personal use nor to be responsible for repairing the temple.

⁹ Then the priest Jehoiada took a box, drilled a hole in its lid, and put it at the right side of the altar as one comes into Yahweh’s temple. The priests who guarded the entrance put the money that was brought to Yahweh’s temple in the box. ¹⁰ Whenever they saw a lot of money in the box, the king’s scribe and the chief priest would collect and count the money that was donated in Yahweh’s temple. ¹¹ Then they would give the money that had been weighed to the men who had been appointed to work on Yahweh’s temple. They used it to pay the carpenters, builders, ¹² masons, and stonecutters. They also used it to buy wood and cut stones to make repairs on Yahweh’s temple and to buy anything else that they needed for the temple repairs. ¹³ But no silver bowls, snuffers, dishes, trumpets, or any other gold and silver utensils were made for Yahweh’s temple with the money that was brought. ¹⁴ Instead, the money was given to the workmen, and they used it to repair the temple. ¹⁵ They didn’t require the men who were entrusted with the money for the workers to give an account, because they were honest people. ¹⁶ The money from the guilt offerings and the offerings for sin was not brought into Yahweh’s temple. It belonged to the priests.

²⁰ “This is what Yahweh says: Suppose you could break my arrangement^[a] with day and night so that they wouldn’t come at their proper time. ²¹ Then my arrangement with my servant David could be broken, and he would not have a descendant to rule on his throne. The arrangement with my servants the Levitical priests could also be broken. ²² I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who serve me like the stars of heaven that cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore that cannot be measured.”

²³ Then Yahweh spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed what these people have said? They have said that Yahweh has rejected the two families he has chosen. They despise my people, and they no longer consider them a nation.

²⁵ “This is what Yahweh says: Suppose I hadn’t made an arrangement with day and night or made laws for heaven and earth. ²⁶ Then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David. I would not let any of David’s descendants rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, I will restore their fortunes and love them.”

⁸ Yahweh spoke his word to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah and all the people in Jerusalem promised to free their slaves. ⁹ Everyone was supposed to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female. No one was supposed to keep another Jew as a slave. ¹⁰ All the officials and all the people agreed and promised to free their male and female slaves and not to keep them as slaves anymore. So they set them free. ¹¹ But afterwards, they changed their minds and took back the men and women they had freed and made them their slaves again.

¹² Yahweh spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³ “This is what Yahweh Elohim of Israel says: I put a condition on the promise^[a] I made to your ancestors when I brought them from Egypt, where they were slaves. I said, ¹⁴ ‘Every seven years each of you must free any Hebrews who sold themselves to you. When they have served you for six years, you must set them free.’ But your ancestors refused to obey me or listen to me. ¹⁵ Recently, you changed and did what I consider right. You agreed to free your neighbors, and you made a promise in my presence, in the temple that is called by my name. ¹⁶ Now you have changed again and dishonored me. You brought back the male and female slaves that you had set free to live their own lives. You have forced them to be your male and female slaves again.

¹⁷ “This is what Yahweh says: You didn’t obey me. You haven’t freed your relatives and neighbors. Now I am going to free you,” declares Yahweh. “I will free you to die in wars, plagues, and famines. I will make all the kingdoms of the world horrified at the thought of you. ¹⁸ I will hand over the people who have rejected my promise. They have not kept the terms of the promise which they made in my presence when they cut a calf in two and passed between its pieces. ¹⁹ I will hand over the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the palace officials, the priests, and all the common people who passed between the pieces of the calf. ²⁰ I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them, and their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals. ²¹ I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them and to the army of the king of Babylon, the army that has withdrawn from you. ²² I am going to give a command,” declares Yahweh. “I will bring that army back to this city to attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one will live there.”