2 Kings 12

1 Joas regnede in the seuenthe yeer of Hieu; Joas regnede fourti yeer in Jerusalem; the name of his modir was Sebia of Bersabee.

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 And Joas dide riytfulnesse bifor the Lord in alle the daies, in whiche Joiada, the preest, tauyte hym.

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

3 Netheles he dide noyt awey hiy thingis; for yit the puple made sacrifice, and brente encense in hiye thingis.

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 And Joas seide to the preestis, `Preestis bi her ordre take al that money of hooli thingis, which is brouyt of men passyng forth in to the temple of the Lord, `which money is offrid for the prijs of soule, and `which money thei bryngen wilfuli, and bi the fredom of her herte, in to the temple of the Lord.

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 And `the preestis reparele the hilyngis of the hows, if thei seen ony thing nedeful in reparelyng.

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 Therfor the preestis repareliden not the hilyngis of the temple, `til to the thre and twentithe yeer of kyng Joas.

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

7 And Joas, the kyng, clepide Joiada, the bischop, and the prestis, and seide to hem, Whi han ye not reparelid the hilyngis of the temple? Therfor nyle ye more take money bi youre ordre, but yelde it to the reparacioun of the temple.

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 And the prestis weren forbodun to take more the money of the puple, and to reparele the hilyngis of the hows.

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

9 And Joiada, the bischop, took a cofere of tresorie, and openyde an hole aboue, and settide it bisidis the auter, at the riytside of men entrynge in to the hows of the Lord; and preestis, that kepten the doris, senten in it al the money that was brouyt to the temple of the Lord.

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 And whanne thei sien that ful myche money was in the tresorie, the scryuen of the kyng and the bischop stieden, and schedden it out, and thei noumbriden the money that was founden in the hous of the Lord.

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 And thei yauen it bi noumbre and mesure in the hond of hem, that weren souereyns to the masouns of the hows of the Lord, whiche `spendiden that money in `crafti men of trees, and in these masouns, that wrouyten in the hous of the Lord,

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 and maden the hilyngis, and in these men that hewiden stoonys; and that thei schulden bie trees and stoonys, that weren hewid doun; so that the reparacioun of the hows of the Lord was fillid in alle thingis, that nediden cost to make strong the hows.

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 Netheles water pottis of the temple of the Lord weren not maad of the same money, and fleischokis, and censeris, and trumpis; ech vessel of gold and of siluer weren not maad of the money, that was brouyt in to the temple of the Lord.

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 For it was youun to hem that maden werk, that the temple of the Lord schulde be reparelid.

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

15 And rekenyng was not maad to these men that token monei, that thei schulden deele it to crafti men; but thei tretiden it in feith.

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 Sotheli thei brouyten not in to the temple of the Lord the money for trespas, and the money for synnes, for it was the preestis.

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 Thanne Asael, kyng of Sirie, stiede, and fauyte ayen Geth; and he took it, and dresside his face, that he schulde stie in to Jerusalem.

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 Wherfor Joas, kyng of Juda, took alle `thingis halewid, whiche Josephat hadde halewid, and Joram, and Ocozie, fadris of hym, kyngis of Juda, and whiche thingis he hadde offrid, and al the siluer, that myyte be foundun in the tresours of the temple of the Lord, and in the paleis of the kyng.

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 And he sente to Asael, kyng of Sirie; and he yede awei fro Jerusalem. Sotheli the residue of wordis of Joas, and alle thingis whiche he dide, whether these ben not writun in the book of wordis of daies of the kyngis of Juda?

[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 Forsothe hise seruauntis risiden, and sworen togidere bitwixe hem silf, and smytiden Joas in the hows Mello, and in the goyng doun of Sela.

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 For Jozachat, sone of Semath, and Joiadath, sone of Soomer, hise seruauntis, smytiden him, and he was deed; and thei birieden hym with hise fadris in the citee of Dauid; and Amasie, his sone, regnyde for hym.