2 Kings 12
1 Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.
2 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah, from Beersheba.
3 Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, as Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
4 However, the shrines on the hills were not removed; the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense at the shrines on the hills.
5 Jehoash said to the priests, “All the silver from the sacred offerings brought to the house of the LORD—the regular silver, the silver each person pays according to the valuation of persons, and all the silver that anyone willingly decides to bring to the house of the LORD:
6 Let the priests receive it, each from someone he knows, and let them themselves repair any damage to the house, wherever damage is found.”
7 But in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests still had not repaired the damage to the house.
8 King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the priests and said to them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage to the house? From now on, don’t take silver from anyone you know; hand it over for the repairs to the house.”
9 The priests agreed not to take silver from the people and not to repair the damage to the house.
10 Jehoiada the priest took a chest, made a hole in its lid, and placed it beside the altar, on the right as one entered the house of the LORD. The priests who guarded the entrance put all the silver brought to the house of the LORD into it.
11 When they saw that there was a lot of silver in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest came up, bagged the silver, and counted the silver found in the house of the LORD.
12 They handed the weighed silver to the supervisors of the work, who were responsible for the house of the LORD; they, in turn, passed it on to the carpenters and builders working on the house of the LORD.
13 They also gave it to the masons and stonecutters, and bought timber and dressed stones to repair the damage to the house of the LORD, and for everything else spent on repairing the house.
14 But no silver bowls, snuffers, basins, trumpets, or any gold or silver objects were made for the house of the LORD with the silver brought to the house of the LORD.
15 For it was given to the workers, and with it they repaired the house of the LORD.
16 No accounts were demanded from the men who were given the silver to hand over to the workers, because they acted faithfully.
17 The silver from guilt offerings and the silver from sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.
18 At that time Hazael, king of Aram, went up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then Hazael set out to go up against Jerusalem.
19 Jehoash, king of Judah, took all the sacred offerings that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, along with his own sacred offerings. He also took all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael, king of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.
20 The rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
21 His servants rose up, formed a conspiracy, and struck Joash at Beth-millo, on the descent to Silla.
22 Jozacar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died. They buried him with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Amaziah reigned in his place.
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app