Beginning

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.

¹⁷ At this time King Hazael of Aram fought against Gath and conquered it. He was also determined to attack Jerusalem. ¹⁸ So King Joash of Judah took all the gifts his ancestors Kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah of Judah, had dedicated to the Lord, the things he had dedicated to the Lord, and all the gold that could be found in the storerooms of Yahweh’s temple and the royal palace. He sent these things to King Hazael of Aram, who called off the attack on Jerusalem.

King Joash Is Assassinated^(A)

¹⁹ Isn’t everything else about Joash—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ His own officials plotted against him and killed him at Beth Millo on the road that goes down to Silla. ²¹ Joash’s officials Jozacar, son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of Shomer, executed him. They buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

King Jehoahaz of Israel

13 Ahaziah’s son King Joash of Judah was in his twenty-third year as king of Judah when Jehoahaz,^[b] son of Jehu, began to rule in Samaria as king of Israel. He ruled for 17 years. ² He did what Yahweh considered evil. He continued to commit the sins that Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) led Israel to commit. He never gave up committing those sins. ³ So Yahweh became angry with Israel and put it at the mercy of King Hazael of Aram and Hazael’s son Benhadad as long as they lived.

⁴ Then Jehoahaz pleaded with Yahweh, and Yahweh heard him because he saw how the Aramean king was oppressing Israel. ⁵ So Yahweh gave the Israelites someone to save them, and they were freed from Aram’s power. They were able to live in their homes again as they had done before. ⁶ But they didn’t turn away from the sins that Jeroboam and his dynasty led Israel to commit. They continued to commit those sins. In addition, the pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah remained standing in Samaria.

⁷ Jehoahaz had no army left except for 50 horses, 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers because the king of Aram had destroyed the rest. He had made them like dust that people trample. ⁸ Isn’t everything else about Jehoahaz—everything he did, his heroic acts—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ⁹ Jehoahaz lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoash^[c] ruled as king in his place.

King Jehoash of Israel

¹⁰ In Joash’s thirty-seventh year as king of Judah, Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash began to rule Israel in Samaria. He ruled for 16 years. ¹¹ He did what Yahweh considered evil and never gave up committing the sins that Jeroboam led Israel to commit. He continued to commit them. ¹² Isn’t everything else about Jehoash—everything he did, his heroic acts when he fought against King Amaziah of Judah—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ¹³ Jehoash lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with the kings of Israel in Samaria. Then Jeroboam claimed the throne.

The Death of Elisha

¹⁴ Elisha became fatally ill. King Jehoash of Israel visited him, cried over him, and said, “Master! Master! Israel’s chariot and horses!”

¹⁵ Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” So he got a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶ Then Elisha told the king of Israel, “Take the bow in your hand.” So the king picked up the bow. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷ Elisha said, “Open the window that faces east.” So the king opened it. “Shoot,” Elisha said, and the king shot. Then Elisha said, “That is the arrow of Yahweh’s victory, the arrow of victory against Aram. You will completely defeat the Arameans at Aphek.” ¹⁸ Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows.” So the king took them. “Stomp on them,” he told the king of Israel. The king stomped three times and stopped.

¹⁹ Then the man of Elohim became angry with him. “You should have stomped five or six times!” he said. “Then you would have completely defeated the Arameans. But now you will only defeat the Arameans three times.”

²⁰ Elisha died and was buried. Moabite raiding parties used to invade the country in the spring. ²¹ One day some people who were burying a man saw one of these raiding parties. So they quickly put the man into Elisha’s tomb. But when the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came back to life and stood up.

²² King Hazael of Aram oppressed Israel as long as Jehoahaz ruled. ²³ But Yahweh was kind and merciful to the Israelites because of his promise^[d] to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He didn’t want to destroy the Israelites, and even now he hasn’t turned away from them.

²⁴ King Hazael of Aram died, and his son Benhadad succeeded him as king. ²⁵ Then Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, reconquered the cities that Benhadad had taken from his father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Benhadad three times and recovered those cities of Israel.

King Amaziah of Judah^(B)

14 Jehoahaz’s son King Jehoash was in his second year as king of Israel when King Amaziah, son of Joash of Judah, began to rule. ² Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem.

³ He did what Yahweh considered right, but not exactly what his ancestor David had done. He did everything his father Joash had done. ⁴ But the illegal places of worship were still not torn down. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at these worship sites.

⁵ As soon as he had a firm control over the kingdom, he executed the officials who had killed his father, the former king. ⁶ But he didn’t execute their children. He obeyed Yahweh’s command written in the Book of Moses’ Teachings: “Parents must never be put to death for the crimes of their children, and children must never be put to death for the crimes of their parents. Each person must be put to death for his own crime.”

⁷ Amaziah killed 10,000 Edomites in the Dead Sea region and took the city of Sela in battle. He gave it the name Joktheel, which is still its name today.

King Amaziah’s Defeat and Death^(C)

⁸ Then Amaziah sent messengers to King Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu of Israel, to declare war on Israel.

⁹ King Jehoash of Israel sent this message to King Amaziah of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon. It said, ‘Let your daughter marry my son,’ but a wild animal from Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle. ¹⁰ You certainly defeated Edom, and now you have become arrogant. Enjoy your fame, but stay home. Why must you invite disaster and your own defeat and take Judah with you?”

¹¹ But Amaziah wouldn’t listen. So King Jehoash of Israel attacked, and King Amaziah of Judah met him in battle at Beth Shemesh in Judah. ¹² Israel defeated the army of Judah, and the Judeans fled to their homes. ¹³ King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah, son of Joash and grandson of Ahaziah of Judah, at Beth Shemesh and went to Jerusalem. He tore down a 600-foot section of the wall around Jerusalem from Ephraim Gate to Corner Gate. ¹⁴ He took all the gold, silver, and all the utensils he found in Yahweh’s temple and in the royal palace treasury. He also took hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

¹⁵ Isn’t everything else about Jehoash—what he did, his heroic acts when he fought against King Amaziah of Judah—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ¹⁶ Jehoash lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with the kings of Israel in Samaria. His son Jeroboam succeeded him as king.

¹⁷ Joash’s son King Amaziah of Judah lived 15 years after the death of Jehoahaz’s son King Jehoash of Israel. ¹⁸ Isn’t everything else about Amaziah written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ¹⁹ Conspirators in Jerusalem plotted against him, so he fled to Lachish. But they sent men to Lachish after him and killed him there. ²⁰ They brought him back by horse, and he was buried in Jerusalem, in the City of David, with his ancestors.

²¹ All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. ²² Azariah rebuilt Elath and returned it to Judah after King Amaziah lay down in death with his ancestors.

King Jeroboam II of Israel

²³ Joash’s son Amaziah was in his fifteenth year as king of Judah when Jehoash’s son King Jeroboam of Israel began to rule in Samaria. Jeroboam ruled for 41 years. ²⁴ He did what Yahweh considered evil. He didn’t turn away from any of the sins that Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) led Israel to commit.

²⁵ He restored Israel’s boundaries from the border of Hamath to the Dead Sea as Yahweh Elohim of Israel predicted through his servant Jonah, the prophet from Gath Hepher and the son of Amittai. ²⁶ Yahweh did this because he saw how bitterly everyone in Israel was suffering. No slave or free person could help Israel. ²⁷ Since Yahweh had said he was not going to wipe out Israel’s name completely, he saved them through Jeroboam, son of Jehoash.

²⁸ Isn’t everything else about Jeroboam—everything he did, his heroic acts when he fought, how he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Israel^[e]—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ²⁹ Jeroboam lay down in death with his ancestors, the kings of Israel. His son Zechariah succeeded him as king.