2 Kings 12

1In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

2Jehoash did what was right in the sight of Yahweh all his days during which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

3But the high places were not removed; the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

4Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money brought as holy gifts into the house of Yahweh—the census money, the money from each person’s assessed valuation, and all the money that anyone chooses freely to bring into the house of Yahweh—

5let the priests receive it, each from his own contact, and let them use it to repair the house wherever any damage is found.”

6But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests still had not repaired the damage to the house.

7So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the damage to the house? From now on, do not take any more money from your contacts, but hand it over for repairing the damage to the house.”

8The priests agreed that they would not take any more money from the people and would not be responsible for repairing the damage to the house.

9Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the house of Yahweh. The priests who guarded the entrance put into it all the money that was brought into the house of Yahweh.

10Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest came up, and they tied up in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of Yahweh.

11They gave the money that had been weighed out to the men appointed to supervise the work on the house of Yahweh. These paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of Yahweh,

12to the masons and stonecutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the damage to the house of Yahweh, and for all the other expenses of repairing the house.

13But the money brought into the house of Yahweh was not used to make silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver for the house of Yahweh.

14It was given to the workmen, who used it to repair the house of Yahweh.

15They did not require an accounting from the men to whom they gave the money to pay the workmen, because they dealt honestly.

16The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of Yahweh; it belonged to the priests.

17At that time Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then Hazael turned to go up against Jerusalem.

18So Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, along with his own sacred gifts and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and of the king’s palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

19As for the rest of the deeds of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

20His officials rose up and formed a conspiracy, and they struck down Joash at Beth-millo, on the road that goes down to Silla.

21His officials Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him down, and he died. They buried him with his ancestors in the city of David, and Amaziah his son became king in his place.