Beginning
Joash makes repairs to God's house
12 Joash became king of Judah in the seventh year that Jehu was king of Israel. Joash ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother's name was Zibiah. She came from Beersheba. 2 Jehoiada the priest taught Joash to do what was right. So Joash pleased the Lord all through his life.[a] 3 But Joash did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.
4 Joash said to all the priests, ‘Bring together all the money that people have offered to the Lord in his temple. This includes:
the money that each person pays as his tax,
the money that people have given because of a promise,
and the money that people have chosen to give for the temple.
5 Each priest should receive the money that he needs to make repairs to the temple. When he sees that something is broken, he can use some of the people's money to mend it.’
6 When Joash had been king for 23 years, the priests had still not made any repairs to the temple. 7 So King Joash called Jehoiada and the other priests to come to him. He said to them, ‘You have made no repairs to the temple yet! Why not? Do not take any more of your people's money! It must only be used to make repairs to the temple.’ 8 The priests agreed that they would not take any more money from the people. They agreed that they would not make repairs to the temple themselves.[b]
9 Jehoiada the priest took a large box and he made a hole in the top of it. He put it outside the entrance of the temple, on the right side of the altar. The priests who were guards at the temple door took care of the box. When people brought gifts of money to the Lord's temple, the priests put the money in the box. 10 Whenever there was a lot of money in the box, the king's secretary and the leader of the priests counted the money. Then they put those gifts for the temple into bags. 11 When they knew how much money was there, they gave it to the men who had authority over the work. Then those men paid the carpenters and the builders who were working on the Lord's temple. 12 They also paid the men that cut the stones and the men who used the stones to build with. They bought wood and they bought stones that people had cut to use for the repairs to the Lord's temple. They used the money to pay for any work on the repairs.
13 But they did not use any of this money to buy things that they used in the temple. This included:
silver bowls,
small tools that they used for the lamps,
bowls for water,
trumpets,
and anything else that was made with silver or gold.
14 Instead, they used all the money to give to the men who had authority over the repairs to the Lord's temple. 15 Those men did not have to give a report on how they used the money. People knew that they were honest men. 16 But the money that people gave when they made a guilt offering or a sin offering belonged to the priests. It did not pay for the repairs on the temple.
17 At that time, Hazael, the king of Syria, attacked Gath.[c] His army took the city for him. Then King Hazael decided to attack Jerusalem.
18 Joash, the king of Judah, took all the valuable things that he and his ancestors had given to God. Those ancestors were the kings of Judah: Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah. He also took gold that was in the palace and in the temple. He sent all those valuable things to Hazael, king of Syria.[d] When Hazael received the gifts from Joash, he took his army away from Jerusalem.
19 The other things that happened while Joash was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Joash did. 20 Joash's officers decided to kill him. Two of them murdered him at Beth Millo, on the road that goes down to Silla. 21 The officers that killed him were Shimeath's son Jozabad and Shomer's son Jehozabad. People buried Joash beside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah became king after him.
Jehoahaz becomes the king of Israel
13 Jehu's son Jehoahaz became king of Israel when Ahaziah's son Joash had been king of Judah for 23 years. Jehoahaz ruled as king in Samaria for 17 years. 2 But he did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins, and Jehoahaz did not stop doing them himself. 3 So the Lord was very angry with Israel. For many years the Lord put the Israelites under the power of King Hazael of Syria and his son Ben-Hadad.
4 Then King Jehoahaz asked the Lord for help. The Lord saw that the king of Syria was being very cruel to Israel, so he answered the prayer of Jehoahaz. 5 The Lord sent a leader to rescue Israel from Syria's power. So the Israelites lived safely in their own homes, as they had done before this time. 6 But the Israelites still did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam and his family had done. Jeroboam had caused the Israelites to do bad things, and they still continued to do them. There were still Asherah poles that people worshipped in Samaria.
7 The king of Syria had destroyed most of Jehoahaz's army. All that remained were:
50 soldiers that rode horses.
10 chariots.
10,000 other soldiers.
The king of Syria completely destroyed all the rest of the army. Only dust remained!
8 The other things that happened while Jehoahaz was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Jehoahaz used his power to do. 9 Jehoahaz died and they buried him beside his ancestors in Samaria. His son Jehoash became king after him.
Jehoash becomes the king of Israel
10 Jehoahaz's son Jehoash became the king of Israel when Joash had been king of Judah for 37 years. He ruled as king in Samaria for 16 years. 11 But he did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins, and Jehoahaz did not stop doing them himself.
12 The other things that happened while Jehoash was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jehoash did. It tells about the war that he fought against Amaziah, king of Judah 13 Jehoash died and they buried him in Samaria beside the other kings of Israel. Jeroboam became king of Israel after him.
Elisha dies
14 When Jehoash was still king of Israel, Elisha became very ill. It was the illness from which he would soon die. Jehoash went to visit him. Jehoash stood beside Elisha and he wept. Jehoash said, ‘My father! My father! You are riding in Israel's chariot! Israel's men are riding on the horses!’[e]
15 Elisha said to King Jehoash, ‘Fetch a bow and some arrows.’ The king did that. 16 Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘Prepare to shoot an arrow.’ When he had done that, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. 17 Elisha said, ‘Open the window towards the east.’ When the king opened it, Elisha said, ‘Shoot the arrow!’ The king shot the arrow and Elisha said, ‘That is the Lord's arrow which shows that you will win the battle against Syria. You will completely destroy Syria's army at Aphek.’
18 Then Elisha said, ‘Pick up the other arrows.’ When the king of Israel took them, Elisha said to him, ‘Hit the ground with them.’ The king hit the ground three times and then he stopped. 19 The man of God then became angry with King Jehoash. He said, ‘You should have hit the ground five times or six times. Then you would have completely destroyed Syria's army. But now you will only win three battles against Syria.’
20 After that, Elisha died and they buried him.
Every year in spring, groups of fighters from Moab came to attack places in Israel. 21 One day some Israelites were burying a man who had died. While they were doing that, they saw a group of fighters from Moab. So they quickly threw the dead body into Elisha's grave. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the dead man became alive again! He jumped up and he stood there!
22 All the time that Jehoahaz was king of Israel, King Hazael of Syria was cruel to the Israelites. 23 But the Lord was kind to them and he helped them. He loved them because of his covenant with their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So he has never wanted to destroy them or to send them away from him, even until now.
24 Hazael, the king of Syria, died. His son Ben-Hadad became king after him. 25 Then Jehoahaz's son, King Jehoash, took back some Israelite cities from Ben-Hadad. They were cities that Hazael had taken from Jehoahaz in war. King Jehoash won three battles against Ben-Hadad and he took back those cities for Israel.
Amaziah becomes the king of Judah
14 Joash's son Amaziah became the king of Judah when Jehoahaz's son Jehoash had been the king of Israel for two years. 2 Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule as king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin. She was from Jerusalem. 3 Amaziah did things that the Lord said were good. He lived in the way that his father Joash had done. But he did not do as well as his ancestor King David had done. 4 He did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.
5 Amaziah made himself strong to rule his kingdom with authority. Then he killed the officers who had murdered his father, King Joash. 6 But he did not punish their sons with death. He obeyed the Lord's command that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses. The command says, ‘Do not punish fathers with death when their sons do bad things. Do not punish children with death when their fathers do bad things. Each person must die only because of his own sins.’[f]
7 Amaziah killed 10,000 soldiers from Edom in Salt valley.[g] He attacked Sela city and he took it for himself. He gave it a new name, ‘Joktheel’. That is still its name.
8 Then Amaziah sent men with a message to King Jehoash of Israel. He was the son of Jehoahaz and the grandson of Jehu. Amaziah's message said, ‘Come here and meet me.’ 9 But King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah: ‘In Lebanon, a thorn bush sent this message to a cedar tree: “Please give your daughter to my son, to be his wife.” Then a wild animal of Lebanon came and knocked down the thorn bush. It walked all over it! 10 Yes! You have won the fight against Edom. But do not boast about your power! You may be very happy, but stay at home! Do not try to fight against us. If you do that, you will cause trouble that destroys both you and your kingdom, Judah.’
11 But Amaziah did not accept Jehoash's message. So King Jehoash of Israel prepared to attack Amaziah's army. Jehoash and Amaziah met together in battle at Beth Shemesh, a town in Judah. 12 Israel's army won the battle against Judah's army. All the soldiers from Judah ran back home. 13 At Beth Shemesh, King Jehoash of Israel caught the king of Judah, Amaziah, the son of Joash and the grandson of Ahaziah. Then King Jehoash went to attack Jerusalem. He destroyed the wall of Jerusalem, between the Ephraim Gate and the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was 180 metres long. 14 He took all the gold and silver and all the valuable things from the Lord's temple and the palace. He also took some of the people away with him as prisoners. Then he returned to Samaria.
King Jehoash of Israel dies
15 The other things that happened while Jehoash was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jehoash did. It tells about the war that he fought against King Amaziah of Judah. 16 Jehoash died and they buried him beside the other kings of Israel in Samaria. His son Jeroboam became king after him.
King Amaziah of Judah dies
17 Joash's son Amaziah, the king of Judah, lived for 15 years after Jehoahaz's son Jehoash, the king of Israel, died. 18 The other things that happened while Amaziah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. 19 Some people in Jerusalem made a plan to kill Amaziah. So he ran away to Lachish. But the people in Jerusalem sent men to catch him in Lachish. They killed Amaziah there. 20 They carried his dead body back to Jerusalem on a horse. They buried him there beside his ancestors in the City of David. 21 All the people in Judah made Amaziah's son Azariah king instead of his father. Azariah was 16 years old. 22 He was the king who built Elath into a strong city again. He put it back under Judah's power. He did that after his father Amaziah had died.
Jeroboam II becomes the king of Israel
23 Jehoash's son Jeroboam became the king of Israel when Joash's son Amaziah had been king of Judah for 15 years. Jeroboam ruled Israel for 41 years in Samaria.[h] 24 He did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. He had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.
25 Jeroboam was the king who made Israel's border strong between Lebo-Hamath and the Salt Sea.[i] The Lord, Israel's God, had already told his prophet Jonah that this would happen. Jonah was the son of Amittai and he came from Gath Hepher.
26 Everyone in Israel had a lot of trouble and pain, whoever they were. There was no leader who could rescue them. The Lord had seen this, so he helped Jeroboam. 27 The Lord had never said that he would completely remove Israel from the earth. So he gave Jehoash's son Jeroboam the power to rescue them.
28 The other things that happened while Jeroboam was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jeroboam did. It tells how he fought battles to get back power for Israel over Damascus and Hamath. 29 Jeroboam died and they buried him beside the other kings of Israel in Samaria. His son Zechariah became king after him.[j]
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