Chronological

12 ¶ In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

² And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the time that Jehoiada, the priest, instructed him.

³ But with all this, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

⁴ ¶ And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the sanctified things that is brought into the house of the LORD, the money of the redemptions of each one that passes the account, the money of each soul according to the estimation of each one, and all the money that comes into any man’s heart to bring into the house of the LORD,

⁵ let the priests receive it, each man of his kinsmen; and let them repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach shall be found.

⁶ But it was so that, in the year twenty-three of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.

⁷ Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada, the priest, and the other priests and said unto them, Why do ye not repair the breaches of the house? Now, therefore, receive no more money of your kinsmen, but deliver it to repair the breaches of the house.

⁸ And the priests consented to receive no more money from the people, neither to be responsible to repair the breaches of the house.

⁹ Then Jehoiada, the priest, took an ark and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar, on the right side of the entrance to the house of the LORD; and the priests that kept the door put all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD in it.

¹⁰ And when they saw that there was much money in the ark, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD and guarded it.

¹¹ And they gave sufficient money into the hands of those that did the work and of those that had the responsibility of the house of the LORD; and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders that repaired the house of the LORD,

¹² and to the masons and hewers of stone and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the LORD and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

¹³ But of that money that was brought into the house of the LORD, they did not make bowls of silver nor snuffers nor basins nor trumpets nor any vessels of gold or vessels of silver for the house of the LORD

¹⁴ because they gave it to the workmen and repaired the house of the LORD with it.

¹⁵ Moreover they did not require accounts from the men into whose hands they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen, for they dealt faithfully.

¹⁶ The guilt money and sin money was not brought into the house of the LORD, for it was the priests’.

¹⁷ ¶ Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up, and fought against Gath and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem.

¹⁸ And Jehoash, king of Judah, took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated and his own holy things and all the gold that was found in the treasury of the house of the LORD and in the king’s house and sent it to Hazael, king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.

¹⁹ And 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 And his slaves arose and made a conspiracy and slew Joash in the house of Millo, as he was going down to Silla.

²¹ For Jozachar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his slaves, smote him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Amaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.

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

² And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; and he did not depart from them.

³ And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, all their days.

⁴ But Jehoahaz grieved before the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.

⁵ (And the LORD gave Israel a saviour so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians, and the sons of Israel dwelt in their tents as beforetime.

⁶ With all this, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked in them; and the grove also remained in Samaria.)

⁷ Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like dust to be tread upon.

⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

⁹ And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash, his son, reigned in his stead.

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

¹¹ And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin; he walked in them.

¹² And the rest of the acts of Joash and 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 And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴ Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness of which he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!

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

¹⁶ And he said to the king of Israel, Put thy 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 towards the east. And when he opened it Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD’s salvation, and the arrow of salvation from Syria; for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, until thou have consumed them.

¹⁸ And he said again, Take the arrows. And he took them. Then he said to the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote three times, and stopped.

¹⁹ Then the man of God was angry with him, and said, If thou would have smitten five or six times; then thou would have smitten Syria until thou had consumed it; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria three times.

²⁰ ¶ And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

²¹ And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha; and when the dead man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

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

²³ But the LORD was merciful unto them, and had compassion on them, and looked upon them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and did not desire to destroy them or to cast them from his presence as yet.

²⁴ And Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead.

²⁵ And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz, his father, by war. Three times did Joash smite him, and he recovered the cities of Israel.

24 ¶ Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

² And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada, the priest.

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

⁴ And it came to pass after this that Joash desired to repair the house of the LORD.

⁵ And he gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and be diligent in this matter. However the Levites were not diligent.

⁶ Therefore the king called for Jehoiada, the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem unto the tabernacle of the testimony the collection, according to the commandment of Moses, the slave of the LORD and of the congregation of Israel?

⁷ For the wicked woman, Athaliah, and her sons had broken up the house of God, and they had also bestowed all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD upon Baalim.

⁸ And at the king’s commandment they made an ark and set it outside at the gate of the house of the LORD.

⁹ And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the slave of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought in and cast into the ark until they had fulfilled their duty.

¹¹ Now it came to pass, that at what time the ark was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the ark and took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance.

¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those that did the work of the service of the house of the LORD and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD and also those that wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD.

¹³ So the workmen wrought, and by their hands the work was done, and they restored the house of God and strengthened it.

¹⁴ And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, of which they made vessels for the house of the LORD, vessels to minister and to offer with, and spoons 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 waxed old and was full of days when he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.

¹⁶ And they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and worshipped the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.

¹⁸ And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their guilt.

¹⁹ Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the LORD, and they testified against them, but they would not give ear.

²⁰ And the Spirit of God clothed himself in Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, who being over the people, said unto them, Thus hath God said, Why do ye transgress the commandments of the LORD? Ye shall not prosper in this; for because ye have forsaken the LORD, he shall also forsake you.

²¹ And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.

²² Thus Joash, the king, did not remember the mercy which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him but slew his son; who said when he died, The LORD look upon it and require it.

²³ And at the end of the year, the host of Syria came up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.

²⁴ For even though the army of the Syrians had come with a small company of men, the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgments against Joash.

²⁵ And when they were departed from him (for they left him in great diseases), his own slaves conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada, the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings.

²⁶ Those that conspired against him were Zabad, the son of Shimeath, an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith, a Moabitess.

²⁷ Now concerning his sons, and of the multiplication that he did of the taxes and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.