列王紀下 12

1 耶戶第七年，約阿施登基，在耶路撒冷作王四十年。他母親名叫西比亞，是別是巴人。

When Jehu had been ruling Israel for almost seven years, Joash became the king of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother was Zibiah, from Beersheba [city].

2 約阿施在祭司耶何耶大教訓他的時候，就行耶和華眼中看為正的事；

All his life, he did what pleased Yahweh, because Jehoiada the priest instructed/taught him.

3 只是邱壇還沒有廢去，百姓仍在那裏獻祭燒香。

But the places where the people worshiped [Yahweh] on the tops of hills were not destroyed, and they continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at those places, [instead of at the place that God had chosen for them in Jerusalem].

4 約阿施對眾祭司說：「凡奉到耶和華殿分別為聖之物所值通用的銀子，或各人當納的身價，或樂意奉到耶和華殿的銀子，

Joash said to the priests, “You must take all the money which the people contribute, both the money they are required to give and the money that they themselves decide to give, as sacred offerings to buy things for the temple.

5 你們當從所認識的人收了來，修理殿的一切破壞之處。」

Each priest must take the money from people who know him (OR, from one of the treasurers), and he must use that money to repair the temple whenever he sees that there is something that needs to be repaired.”

6 無奈到了約阿施王二十三年，祭司仍未修理殿的破壞之處。

But after Joash had been ruling for almost twenty-three years, the priests still had not repaired anything in the temple.

7 所以約阿施王召了大祭司耶何耶大和眾祭司來，對他們說：「你們怎麼不修理殿的破壞之處呢？從今以後，你們不要從所認識的人再收銀子，要將所收的交出來，修理殿的破壞之處。」

So Joash summoned Jehoiada and the other priests and said to them, “(Why are you not repairing things in the temple?/You should have been repairing things in the temple!) [RHQ] From now on, you must not keep the money that you receive from people who know you (OR, the treasurers). You must give it to the people who will be repairing things in the temple!”

8 眾祭司答應不再收百姓的銀子，也不修理殿的破壞之處。

The priests agreed to do that, and they also agreed that they themselves would not do the repair work.

9 祭司耶何耶大取了一個櫃子，在櫃蓋上鑽了一個窟窿，放於壇旁，在進耶和華殿的右邊；守門的祭司將奉到耶和華殿的一切銀子投在櫃裏。

Then Jehoiada took a chest and bored a hole in the lid. He placed it alongside the altar [for burning incense/sacrifices] that was on the right as anyone enters the temple. The priests who guarded the entrance to the temple put in the box the money that was brought to the temple.

10 他們見櫃裏的銀子多了，便叫王的書記和大祭司上來，將耶和華殿裏的銀子數算包起來。

Whenever they saw that there was a lot of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the Supreme Priest would come and count the money. Then they would put it in bags and tie the bags shut.

11 把所平的銀子交給督工的，就是耶和華殿裏辦事的人；他們把銀子轉交修理耶和華殿的木匠和工人，

Then, after they weighed it, they would give the money to the men who supervised the work in the temple. Then the supervisors would use that money to pay the carpenters and builders who did the repair work in the temple,

12 並瓦匠、石匠，又買木料和鑿成的石頭，修理耶和華殿的破壞之處，以及修理殿的各樣使用。

and the masons and the stone cutters. Also with some of that money they bought timber and stones that had been cut to be used in the repair work, and to pay all the other expenses for the repair work.

13 但那奉到耶和華殿的銀子，沒有用以做耶和華殿裏的銀杯、蠟剪、碗、號，和別樣的金銀器皿，

But they did not use any of that money [to pay men] to make silver cups or wick trimmers or bowls or trumpets or any other items made of silver or gold to be used in the temple.

14 乃將那銀子交給督工的人修理耶和華的殿；

All that money was given to the men who were doing the work of repairing the temple.

15 且將銀子交給辦事的人轉交做工的人，不與他們算賬，因為他們辦事誠實。

The men who supervised the work always did things honestly, so the king’s secretary and the Supreme Priest never required that the supervisors report what they had spent the money for.

16 惟有贖愆祭、贖罪祭的銀子沒有奉到耶和華的殿，都歸祭司。

But the money that people gave to pay for the wrong things that they had done and the money they gave to purify themselves because of the sins that they had committed was not put in the chest. That money belonged to the priests.

17 那時，亞蘭王哈薛上來攻打迦特，攻取了，就定意上來攻打耶路撒冷。

At that time, Hazael, the king of Syria, went [with his army] and attacked Gath [city] and conquered it. Then he decided that they would attack Jerusalem.

18 猶大王約阿施將他列祖猶大王約沙法、約蘭、亞哈謝所分別為聖的物和自己所分別為聖的物，並耶和華殿與王宮府庫裏所有的金子都送給亞蘭王哈薛；哈薛就不上耶路撒冷來了。

So Joash, the king of Judah, took all the money that the previous kings, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, had dedicated to Yahweh. He added some of his own money, and all the gold that was in the rooms in the temple where valuable things were kept/stored, and the gold in his palace, and sent it all to King Hazael, [to (appease him/persuade him to not attack Jerusalem)]. So King Hazael [took his army] away from Jerusalem.

19 約阿施其餘的事，凡他所行的都寫在猶大列王記上。

[If you want to read more of] what Joash did, [it] is all written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

20 約阿施的臣僕起來背叛，在下悉拉的米羅宮那裏將他殺了。

Joash’s officials plotted against him, and two of them killed Joash on the road that goes down to [the] Silla [district]. The two men who did that were Jozabad, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer. Joash was buried in the place where his ancestors were buried, [in the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. Then Joash’s son Amaziah became the king of Judah.

21 殺他的那臣僕就是示米押的兒子約撒甲和朔默的兒子約薩拔。眾人將他葬在大衛城他列祖的墳地裏。他兒子亞瑪謝接續他作王。