Chronological

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, ^[a]Joash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.

² Joash did right in the sight of the Lord all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

³ Yet the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

⁴ And Joash said to the priests, All the current money brought into the house of the Lord to provide the dedicated things, also the money [which the priests by command have] assessed on all those bound by vows, also all the money that it comes into any man’s heart voluntarily to bring into the house of the Lord,

⁵ Let the priests solicit and receive such contributions, every man from his acquaintance, and let them repair the Lord’s house wherever any such need may be found.

⁶ But in the twenty-third year of King Joash’s reign the priests had not made the needed repairs on the Lord’s house.

⁷ Then King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, Why are you not repairing the [Lord’s] house? Do not take any more money from your acquaintances, but turn it all over for the repair of the house. [You are no longer responsible for this work. I will take it into my own hands.]

⁸ And the priests consented to receive no more money from the people, nor to repair the breaches of the house.

⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took 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 door put in the chest 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 scribe and the high priest came up and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord and tied it up in bags.

¹¹ Then they gave the money, when it was weighed, into the hands of those who were doing the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the Lord

¹² And to the masons and stonecutters, and to buy timber and hewn stone for making the repairs on the house of the Lord, and for all that was outlay for repairing the house.

¹³ However, there were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any vessels of gold or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.

¹⁴ But they gave that to the workmen, and repaired with it the house of the Lord.

¹⁵ Moreover, they did not require an accounting from the men into whose hands they delivered the money to be paid to the workmen, for they dealt faithfully.

¹⁶ The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord; it was the priests’.

¹⁷ Then Hazael king of Syria went up, fought against Gath [in Philistia], and took it. And Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

¹⁸ And Joash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his [forefathers], kings of Judah, had dedicated and his own hallowed things and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and in the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria; and Hazael went away from Jerusalem.

¹⁹ 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 His servants arose and made a conspiracy and slew Joash [in revenge] in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.^(A)

²¹ It was Jozachar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his servants, who smote him so that he died. They buried [Joash] with his fathers in the City of David. Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

13 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.

² He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin, and did not depart from them.

³ The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and of Ben-hadad son of Hazael continually.

⁴ But Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened to him, for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria burdened them.

⁵ Then the Lord gave Israel a savior [one to rescue and give them peace], so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the Israelites dwelt in their tents or homes as before.

⁶ Yet they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin; but the nation walked in them. And the Asherah [symbol of the goddess Asherah] remained in Samaria.

⁷ [Ben-hadad] of Syria did not leave to Jehoahaz of [Israel] an army of more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 footmen, for the Syrian king had destroyed them and made them like dust to be trampled.

⁸ The rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, all that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

⁹ Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. ^[b]Jehoash his son reigned in his stead.

¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.

¹¹ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; he walked in them.

¹² The rest of the acts of Jehoash, all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

¹³ Jehoash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam [II] sat on his throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴ Now Elisha [previously] had become ill of the illness of which he died. And Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen of it!^(B)

¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows. And he took bow and arrows.

¹⁶ And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it, and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands.

¹⁷ And he said, Open the window to the east. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria. For you shall smite the Syrians in Aphek till you have destroyed them.

¹⁸ Then he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike on the ground. And he struck three times and stopped.

¹⁹ And the man of God was angry with him and said, You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Syria down only three times.

²⁰ Elisha died, and they buried him. Bands of the Moabites invaded the land in the spring of the next year.

²¹ As a man was being buried [on an open bier], such a band was seen coming; and the man was cast into Elisha’s grave. And when the man being let down touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

²² Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

²³ But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned toward them because of ^[c]His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence yet.^(C)

²⁴ Hazael king of Syria died; Ben-hadad his son reigned in his stead.

²⁵ Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recovered from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and recovered the cities of Israel.^(D)

24 Joash was seven years old when he began his forty-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.

² And Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest [his uncle].

³ And Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴ After this, Joash decided to repair the Lord’s house.

⁵ He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year; and see that you hasten the matter. But the Levites did not hasten it.

⁶ So the king called for Jehoiada the high priest and said to him, Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the servant of the Lord and of the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?

⁷ For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and also had used for the Baals all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord.

⁸ And at the king’s command they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord.

⁹ And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰ And all the princes and people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.

¹¹ When the Levites brought the chest to the king’s office, and whenever they saw that there was much money, the king’s secretary and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day and collected money in abundance.

¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the temple service; and they hired masons and carpenters and also those who worked in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord.

¹³ So the workmen labored, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands; and they set up the house of God according to its design and strengthened it.

¹⁴ When they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; from it were made utensils for the Lord’s house, vessels for ministering and for offerings, and cups and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵ But Jehoiada became old and full of [the handicaps of great] age, and he died. He was 130 years old at his death.

¹⁶ They buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and His house.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada [the priest, who had hidden Joash], the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to King Joash; then the king hearkened to them.

¹⁸ They forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their sin (guilt).

¹⁹ Yet [God] sent prophets to them to bring them again to the Lord; these testified against them, but they would not listen.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood over the people, and he said to them, Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.

²¹ They conspired against Zechariah the priest and stoned him at the command of the king in the court of the Lord’s house!

²² Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had done him, but slew his son. And when [Zechariah the priest] was dying, he said, May the Lord see and avenge!

²³ At the end of the year, the army of Syria came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

²⁴ Though the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, the Lord delivered a very great host into their hands, because Joash and Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. So the Syrians executed judgment against Joash.

²⁵ And when they had departed from Joash, leaving him very ill, his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they slew him on his bed. So he died and they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

²⁶ The conspirators against Joash were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

²⁷ Now concerning his sons and the greatness of the prophecies uttered against him and the rebuilding of the house of God, they are written in the commentary on the Book of Kings. And Amaziah his [Joash’s] son reigned in his stead.