Old Testament · History

2 Kings chapter 12

In the seventh year of , became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah, from .Joash did what was the entire time the priest guided him.However, the were not removed. The people continued to offer sacrifices and at those shrines.Joash said to the priests, “All the money brought into as gifts , the money collected from each person’s , the money from personal vows, and any money someone decides on their own to bring to Yahweh’s house,the priests are to receive it, each from his own . And they are to use it to whatever damage is found in the temple.”But by the twenty-third year of King Joash, the priests still had not repaired any of the damage to the temple.So King Joash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and asked them, “Why haven’t you been repairing the damage to the temple? From now on, you may no longer keep the money from your contacts. You must hand it over for the temple repairs.”The priests agreed not to collect money from the people anymore and not to be responsible for the repairs themselves.Then Jehoiada the priest took a , drilled a hole in its lid, and set it beside the on the right side as you enter Yahweh’s house. The priests who put all the money brought into Yahweh’s house into it.Whenever they saw the chest was full of money, the and the would come up, count the money that had been brought into Yahweh’s house, and bag it up.Then they would hand the counted money over to the supervising the work on Yahweh’s house. Those foremen paid the carpenters and builders working on the temple,as well as the and stonecutters. They also used it to buy timber and for repairing the damage to Yahweh’s house—covering every expense that came up in the restoration.However, none of the money brought into Yahweh’s house was used to make silver basins, , , trumpets, or any gold or silver vessels for the temple.It was all given to the workers, and they used it to repair Yahweh’s house.They did not require an accounting from the men who received the money to pay the workers, because they dealt with .Money from and money from was not brought into Yahweh’s house. It went to the priests.Around that time, King of marched against and captured it. Then Hazael turned to attack Jerusalem.So King Joash of Judah took everything his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah, had , along with what he himself had given over, plus all the gold in the of Yahweh’s house and the royal palace, and sent it all to King Hazael of Aram. Hazael pulled back from Jerusalem.As for the rest of what Joash did—everything he accomplished—isn’t it all written in the of the kings of Judah?His own officials against him and assassinated him at , on the road down to .The officials who struck him down were son of Shimeath and son of Shomer. He died, and they buried him with his ancestors in the . His son became king in his place.