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12 Joash[a] reigned in the seventh year of Jehu (Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu); he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.

And Joash did rightfulness before the Lord in all the days, in which Jehoiada, the priest, taught him. (And Joash did what was right before the Lord in all the days, in which Jehoiada, the priest, taught him.)

Nevertheless he did not away the high things; for yet the people made sacrifice, and burnt incense in (the) high things. (But he did not do away the hill shrines; for yet the people made sacrifice, and burned incense at the hill shrines.)

And Joash said to the priests, All the money of [the] holy things, that is brought of men passing forth into the temple of the Lord, and that is offered for the price of [the] soul, and that men bring willfully, and by freedom of their heart, into the temple of the Lord, [the] priests by their order take it. (And Joash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things, that is brought into the Temple of the Lord by men passing forth, and that is offered for the price of the soul, and that men willingly bring, in the freedom of their hearts, into the Temple of the Lord, the priests take it by their order.)

And the priests repair the coverings of the house, if they see anything needful in repairing.

Soothly the priests repaired not the coverings of the temple, unto the three and twentieth year of king Joash. (But the priests did not make any repairs to the Temple, unto twenty-third year of King Joash.)

And Joash, the king, called Jehoiada, the bishop, and the priests, and said to them, Why have ye not repaired the coverings of the temple? Therefore do not ye more take money by your order, but yield it to the reparation of the temple. (And King Joash called the High Priest Jehoiada, and the other priests, and said to them, Why have ye not made any repairs to the Temple? Henceforth do not ye take any more money for yourselves, but all of it must be used to repair the Temple.)

And the priests were forbidden to take [any] more money of the people, and to repair the coverings of the house. (And so the priests were forbidden to take any more money from the people, or to make any repairs to the House of the Lord.)

And Jehoiada, the bishop, took a coffer of the treasury, and opened an hole [there]above, and setted it beside the altar, at the right side of men entering into the house of the Lord; and [the] priests, that kept the doors, sent, or put, into it all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord. (And the High Priest Jehoiada took a treasury box, and made a hole in the lid, and put it beside the altar, to the right of the entrance to the House of the Lord; and the priests on duty, at the entrance, put into it all the money that was brought to the Temple of the Lord.)

10 And when they saw that full much money was in the treasury, the scribe of the king and the bishop went up, and poured it out, and they numbered the money that was found in the house of the Lord. (And whenever they saw that a great deal of money was in the treasury box, the king’s writer, or his secretary, and the High Priest went, and poured it out, and they counted the money that was brought to the House of the Lord.)

11 And they gave it by number and measure in(to) the hand of them, that were sovereigns to the masons of the house of the Lord, the which gave it in carpenters, and in these masons, that wrought in the house of the Lord, and made the coverings, (And then they gave it in number and measure into the hands of those, who were the foremen of the masons for the House of the Lord, who then gave it to the carpenters, and the masons, who worked at the House of the Lord, and made the repairs,)

12 and in these men that hewed stones; and that they should buy trees and stones, that were hewn down; so that the reparation of the house of the Lord was [ful]filled in all things, that needed cost to make strong the house. (and to the men who cut stones, so that they could buy timber, and hewn stone; and so the repairs of the House of the Lord were made, and also all the other expenses paid for.)

13 Nevertheless waterpots of the temple of the Lord were not made of the same money, and fleshhooks, and censers, and trumps; (and) each vessel of gold and of silver were not made of the money, that was brought into the temple of the Lord. (But the waterpots for the Temple of the Lord, and the fleshhooks, and the censers, and the trumpets, were not paid for with this money; and also all the gold and silver vessels were not bought with the money, that was brought into the Temple of the Lord.)

14 For it was given to them that made the work, (so) that the temple of the Lord should be repaired.

15 And reckoning was not made to these men that took the money, that they should deal it (out) to [the] craftsmen; but they treated, or spended, it in faith. (And no reckoning, or accounting, was done with the men who took the money, how they dealt it out to the craftsmen, for they did so by faith, or in trust.)

16 Soothly they brought not into the temple of the Lord the money offered for trespass, and the money for sins, for it was the priests’.

17 Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up, and fought against Gath; and he took it, and (ad)dressed his face (and directed his face), (so) that he should ascend into Jerusalem.

18 Wherefore Joash, king of Judah, took all the hallowed things, that Jehoshaphat had hallowed, and Jehoram[b], and Ahaziah, the fathers of him, kings of Judah, and which things he had offered, and all the silver, that might be found in the treasures of the temple of the Lord, and in the palace of the king. And he sent (these) to Hazael, king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem. (And so Joash, the king of Judah, took all the dedicated things, that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his forefathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and which things he had offered, and all the silver that was found in the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord, and in the king’s palace. And he sent these to Hazael, the king of Syria; and then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.)

19 Soothly the residue of the words of Joash, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

20 And the servants of Joash rose (up), and swore together betwixt themselves, and smote Joash in the house of Millo, and in the going down of Silla (at the going down to Silla).

21 For Jozachar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he was dead (and he died); and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Amaziah, his son, reigned for him.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 12:1 Also known as Jehoash.
  2. 2 Kings 12:18 Also known as Joram.

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

Jehoash Repairs the Temple

Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things (B)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 (C)the money that a man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.” But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house. 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.” So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.

Then Jehoiada the priest took (D)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 (E)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 (F)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 (G)But there were not made for the house of the Lord (H)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 (I)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 (J)the guilt offerings and the money from the (K)sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord; (L)it belonged to the priests.

17 At that time (M)Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face (N)to go up against Jerusalem, 18 Jehoash king of Judah (O)took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, (P)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 (Q)His servants arose and made a conspiracy (R)and struck down Joash in the house of (S)Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. 21 It was (T)Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of (U)Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, (V)and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 12:1 Jehoash is an alternate spelling of Joash (son of Ahaziah) as in 11:2; also verses 2, 4, 6, 7, 18

Joash Begins His Rule

12 Joash began to rule during Jehu’s seventh year as king of Israel. Joash ruled 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Zibiah of Beersheba. For as long as he lived, Joash did what the Lord considered right. He did what Jehoiada the priest taught him. But he did not destroy the high places. The people still made sacrifices and burned incense at those places of worship.

Joash Orders the Temple Repaired

4-5 Joash said to the priests, “There is much money in the Lord’s Temple. People have given things to the Temple and have paid the Temple tax when they were counted. And they have given money simply because they wanted to. You priests should take that money and repair the Lord’s Temple. Each priest should use the money he gets from the people he serves. He should use that money to repair the damage to the Temple.”

In the 23rd year that Joash was king, the priests still had not repaired the Temple, so King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests. Joash said to them, “Why haven’t you repaired the Temple? Stop taking money from the people you serve. That money must be used to repair the Temple.”

The priests agreed to stop taking money from the people, but they also decided not to repair the Temple. So Jehoiada the priest took a box and made a hole in the top of it. Then he put the box on the south side of the altar. This box was by the door where people came into the Lord’s Temple. Some of the priests were there to guard this doorway.[a] They took the money that people brought for the Lord’s temple and put it into this box.

10 Whenever the king’s secretary and the high priest saw that the box was full, they counted all the money that had been given for the Lord’s Temple and put it in bags. 11 Then they paid the men who were in charge of the work on the Lord’s Temple. They paid the carpenters and other builders who worked on the Lord’s Temple. 12 They used that money to pay the stoneworkers and stonecutters, and they used it to buy timber, cut stone, and everything else to repair the Lord’s Temple.

13-14 People gave money for the Lord’s Temple, but the priests could not use this money to make silver cups, snuffers, basins, trumpets, or any of the gold and silver dishes that were to be used inside the Lord’s temple. This money was used only to pay the workers who repaired the Lord’s Temple. 15 Those who were in charge of paying the workers did not have to give a report of how they spent the money, because they could be trusted.

16 People gave money when they offered guilt offerings and sin offerings, but that money was not used for the Lord’s temple. It belonged to the priests.

Joash Saves Jerusalem From Hazael

17 Hazael was the king of Aram. He went to fight against the city of Gath and defeated it. Then he made plans to go fight against Jerusalem.

18 Joash[b] and his ancestors—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah—had all been kings of Judah. They had given many things to the Lord that were kept in his Temple. Joash gathered all these things and all the gold that was stored in the Temple and in his palace. He sent all this treasure to King Hazael of Aram, who then commanded his army to leave Jerusalem.

The Death of Joash

19 All the great things that Joash did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah.

20 Joash’s officers made plans against him. They killed Joash at the house of Millo on the road that goes down to Silla. 21 Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer were Joash’s officers. These men killed Joash.

The people buried Joash with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah became the new king after him.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 12:9 doorway Literally, “threshold.”
  2. 2 Kings 12:18 Joash Or “Jehoash,” the long form of the name “Joash.”