Beginning

Jehoash/Joash Reigns in Judah

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned in Jerusalem forty years, and the name of his mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. ² Jehoash did right in the eyes of Yahweh all of his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³ Only the high places were not removed; the people were still making sacrifices and offering incense on the high places.

Temple Repairs Planned

⁴ Jehoash said to the priests, “All of the money for the sacred things that is brought to the temple of Yahweh, the money taxed at its proper value for each person^[a] and all of the money which comes upon the heart of a man to bring to the temple of Yahweh, ⁵ let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurers, and let them repair the breach of the temple for every place where damage is found.”

⁶ It happened in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the damage in the temple. ⁷ So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, “Why are you not repairing the damage in the temple? Now, you shall not take money from your treasurers for the damage in the temple. You must provide it.” ⁸ So the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the damage to the temple.

⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple. ¹⁰ It happened that when they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of Yahweh. ¹¹ They placed the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid it to the skilled craftsmen of wood and to the builders working on the temple of Yahweh ¹² and to the masons and the stonecutters, to buy timber and stones for hewing, in order to repair the damage of the temple of Yahweh, and for all who went to the temple to repair it. ¹³ Only, for the temple of Yahweh, there were not any silver basins, snuffers, bowls for drinking wine, trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver from the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh. ¹⁴ For they gave that to all the workers, and they repaired the temple^[b] of Yahweh with it. ¹⁵ They did not have to settle accounts with the men into whose hands they placed the money to give to the workers, for they were dealing honestly. ¹⁶ The money of the guilt offering and the money of the sin offering was not brought into the temple^[c] of Yahweh, but were each for the priests.

Hazael Threatens Judah

¹⁷ At that time, Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it; then Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Jehoash king of Judah took all of the holy objects that Jehoshaphat, Joram, and Ahaziah his ancestors,^[d] the kings of Judah, had devoted, and all his holy objects and all of the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of Yahweh, and in the palace of the king, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, so that he went up from Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Now the remainder of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ Then his servants arose and conspired and killed Joash in the house of the Millo as he was going down toward Silla. ²¹ Jozabad^[e] the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him and killed him, so they buried him with his ancestors^[f] in the city of David. Then Amaziah his son became king in his place.

Jehoahaz and Jehoash in Israel

13 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, reigning seventeen years. ² But he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he went after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat with which he had caused Israel to sin, and he did not depart from it. ³ So the anger of Yahweh was kindled^[g] against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael repeatedly.^{[h] 4} Then Jehoahaz entreated Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Aram oppressed them. ⁵ Yahweh gave Israel a savior, and they went out from under the hand of Aram. So the Israelites^[i] lived in their tents as formerly.^{[j] 6} Yet they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam which he caused Israel to sin, but walked in it; and also, the pole of the Asherah worship was still standing in Samaria. ⁷ For there was no army left over for Jehoahaz except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand infantry, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them as the dust at threshing. ⁸ Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his powerful deeds, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? ⁹ Then Jehoahaz slept with his ancestors^[k] and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoash his son became king in his place.

¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, reigning sixteen years. ¹¹ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not depart from all of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin, but walked in it. ¹² The remainder of the acts of Joash^[l] and all that he did, his powerful deeds, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹³ Then Joash slept with his ancestors,^[m] and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Elisha Passes Away

¹⁴ Elisha became ill with the illness with which he would die, so Jehoash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, and said, “My father, my father; the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵ Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows,” so he took him a bow and arrows. ¹⁶ He said to the king of Israel, “Lay your hand on the bow,”^[n] so he lay hold of it; then Elisha put his hand on the hands of the king. ¹⁷ Then he said, “Open the window to the east,” so he opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. Then he said, “An arrow of victory for Yahweh, and an arrow of victory against Aram; you shall fight the Arameans in Aphek until finishing them.” ¹⁸ Then he said, “Take the arrows,” so he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” so he struck three times and stopped. ¹⁹ Yet the man of God became angry against him and said, “For striking five or six times, then you would have defeated Aram until finishing them, but now you will defeat Aram only three times.”

²⁰ Elisha died and they buried him. Now the raiding parties of Moab came in the spring.^{[o] 21} And it happened that they were burying a man; suddenly they saw the marauding band, so they threw the man in the grave of Elisha. As he went in, the man touched the bones of Elisha, and became alive and got up on his feet!

²² Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³ But Yahweh had mercy on them and showed compassion to them and turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them nor cast them from his presence up to now.

²⁴ When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-Hadad became king in his place. ²⁵ Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz returned and took the cities from the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael which he had taken from the hand of Jehoahaz his father in the war. Three times Jehoash defeated him and recovered the towns of Israel.

Amaziah Reigns in Judah; Jeroboam II in Israel

14 In the second year of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Jehoash king of Judah began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem. ³ He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, only not as David his ancestor;^[p] as all which Jehoash his father had done, he did. ⁴ Only the high places were not removed; the people were still sacrificing and offering incense on the high places.

⁵ It happened that when the kingdom was firmly in his hand, he killed his servants who had killed his father the king. ⁶ But the sons of the killers he did not kill, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses which Yahweh had commanded, saying, “Fathers should not be killed because of children, and children should not be killed because of fathers; but a man should die because of his own sin.” ⁷ He also killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and he seized Sela in the battle, and he called its name Jokteel, until this day.

⁸ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, “Come let us meet face-to-face.”^{[q] 9} So Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah, saying, “The thornbush which is in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife,’ but an animal of the field which is in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush. ¹⁰ You have indeed defeated Edom and your heart is lifted up; enjoy the honor and stay home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you fall and Judah with you?”

¹¹ But Amaziah would not listen, so Jehoash king of Israel went up and they met face-to-face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-Shemesh which belongs to Judah. ¹² Judah was defeated before Israel and they fled, each to this tent. ¹³ Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-Shemesh. Then they came to Jerusalem, and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim up to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits! ¹⁴ He also took all of the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the temple of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the palace of the king, as well as the hostages;^[r] then he returned to Samaria.

¹⁵ Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his powerful deeds, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹⁶ Then Jehoash slept with his ancestors^[s] and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

Azariah Succeeds Amaziah in Jerusalem; Zechariah Succeeds Jeroboam II in Samaria

¹⁷ Amaziah the son of Jehoash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. ¹⁸ The remainder of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ¹⁹ They conspired against him in Jerusalem, so he fled to Lachish. But they sent men after him to Lachish, and they killed him there. ²⁰ Then they carried him on the horses, and he was buried with his ancestors^[t] in the city of David. ²¹ All of the people of Judah took sixteen-year-old Azariah and made him king in place of this father Amaziah. ²² He rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his ancestors.^[u]

²³ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Jehoash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Jehoash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, reigning forty-one years. ²⁴ But he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin. ²⁵ He restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-Hamath up to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet, who was from Gath-Hepher. ²⁶ For Yahweh saw that the misery of Israel was very bitter, whether bond or free, but there was no helper for Israel. ²⁷ Yahweh did not decree to blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Jehoash.

²⁸ Now the remainder of the acts of Jeroboam, all that he did, his powerful deeds, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath of Judah to Israel, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? ²⁹ So Jeroboam slept with his ancestors^[v] the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah became king in his place.