Joash Repairs the Temple
(2 Kings 12:1–16)

1Joash was a son of seven years in his reigning, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2And Joash did right in the eyes of YHWH all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3And Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he begat sons and daughters.

4And it came to pass after this that it was with the heart of Joash to renew the house of YHWH. 5And he gathered the priests and the Levites, and he said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel silver to repair the house of your⁺ God sufficiently year by year, and you⁺, hurry to the matter.”

But the Levites hurried not. 6And the king called Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required of the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the tribute of Moses the servant of YHWH and of the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?”

7For the sons of Athaliah the wicked one had broken into the house of God, and also all the dedicated things of the house of YHWH they had presented to the Baals.

8And the king spoke, and they made one chest and set it at the gate of the house of YHWH outside. 9And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to YHWH the tribute of Moses the servant of God upon Israel in the wilderness. 10And all the leaders and all the people rejoiced, and they brought them in and put them into the chest, until it was filled.

11And it came to pass at the time when the chest was brought in to the official of the king by the hand of the Levites and they saw, that there was much silver, that a scribe of the king came, and an officer of the high priest, and emptied the chest, and they took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day, and they gathered silver in abundance. 12And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those doing the work of the service of the house of YHWH, and they hired hewers and craftsmen to renew the house of YHWH, and also craftsmen in iron and bronze to strengthen the house of YHWH.

13And those working labored in the work, and went up the restoration of the work by their hand, and they made stand the house of God according to its measurement, and they strengthened it. 14And at their completing it, they brought before the king and Jehoiada the rest of the silver, and they made from it articles for the house of YHWH, articles of serving and of offering up, and dishes, and vessels of gold and silver.

And they offered burnt offerings in the house of YHWH continually all the days of Jehoiada.

Jehoiada’s Death and Burial

15And Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died a son of a hundred and thirty years in his death.

16And they buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and with God and His house.

The Wickedness of Joash

17And after the death of Jehoiada, the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18And they forsook the house of YHWH, God of their fathers, and they served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this on account of their guilt. 19And He sent to them prophets to bring them back to YHWH. And they testified against them, and they would not give an ear.

20And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood over against the people, and he said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you⁺ transgress the commandments of YHWH, so that you⁺ do not prosper? Because you⁺ have forsaken YHWH, He has forsaken you⁺.’”

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

22And Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada his father had done to him, and he killed his son. And as he died, he said, “May YHWH look on this and require it.”

The Death of Joash
(2 Kings 12:17–21)

23And it came to pass at the coming around of the year† that the army of Aram came up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and they destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people, and all the plunder they sent to the king of Damascus. 24For with a small company of men the army of Aram came, and YHWH delivered into their hands an exceedingly great force, because they had forsaken YHWH, God of their fathers. And against Joash they executed judgment.

25And in their going from him—for they left him severely wounded—his own servants conspired against him on account of the blood of the sons† of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed, and he died. And they buried him in the City of David, and they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26And these are those conspiring against him: Zabad† son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad son of Shimrith† the Moabitess.

27And his sons, and the many oracles about him, and the repairing† of the house of God, indeed they are written in the Treatise† of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.