2 Kings 12
1 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].
In the seventh year of Jehu became Jehoash king; and forty years did he reign in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Zibyah of Beer-sheba'.
2 All his life, he did what pleased Yahweh, because Jehoiada the priest instructed/taught him.
And Jehoash did what is right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, that Yehoyada' the priest instructed him.
3 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].
Only the high-places were not removed: the people as yet sacrificed and burnt incense on the high-places.
4 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.
And Jehoash said to the priests, all the money of the dedicated things that may be brought into the house of the Lord, the money of every one that passeth the numbering, the money any man is valued at, and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord,
5 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.”
The priests shall take to themselves, every man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach may be found.
6 But after Joash had been ruling for almost twenty-three years, the priests still had not repaired anything in the temple.
But it happened, that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.
7 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!”
Then called king Jehoash for Yehoyada' the priest, and the [other] priests, and he said unto them, Wherefore do ye not repair the breaches of the house? and now ye shall take no more money from your acquaintances, but ye shall give it up [at once] for the breaches of the house.
8 The priests agreed to do that, and they also agreed that they themselves would not do the repair work.
And the priests consented neither to take any more money from the people, nor to repair the breaches of the house.
9 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.
But Yehoyada' the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in its lid, and he placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Lord: and the priests that kept watch at the threshold put therein all the money, that was brought into the house of the Lord.
10 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.
And it happened, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high-priest came up, and they put up in bags, after having counted, the money that was found in the house of the Lord.
11 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,
And they gave the money, after it was counted, into the hands of those who overlooked the workmen, that had been appointed as overseers of the house of the Lord: and they laid it out to the carpenters and to the builders, that wrought on the house of the Lord,
12 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.
And to the masons, and the hewers of stone, and for the purchase of timber and hewn stones 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 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.
Nevertheless there were not made for the house of the Lord bowls of silver, knives, basins, trumpets, all kinds of vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord;
14 All that money was given to the men who were doing the work of repairing the temple.
But they gave it to those who overlooked the workmen, and they repaired therewith the house of the Lord.
15 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.
And they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to give it to those who overlooked the workmen; for they acted in good faith.
16 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.
The money for trespass-offerings and the money for sin-offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord: it belonged to the priests.
17 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.
At that time Chazael the king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and captured it: and Chazael directed his face to go up against Jerusalem.
18 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.
Then took Jehoash the king of Judah all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Achazyahu, his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and in the king's house, and sent it to Chazael the king of Syria: and he withdrew from Jerusalem.
19 [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’.
And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
20 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.
And his servants arose, and formed a conspiracy, and smote Joash in Beth-millo, which [lieth on the road] that goeth down to Silla.
And Yozachar the son of Shim'ath, and Yehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amazyah his son became king in his stead.
