Joash Is King of Judah
4 Kingdoms 12, verse 1. Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 2. He began his reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and he ruled for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 3. And all the days in which Jehoiada the priest enlightened him, Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 4. However, none of the high places were removed, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
Repairs of the Temple
4 Kingdoms 12, verse 5. And Joash said to the priests, “With regard to all the silver arising from things consecrated, the silver offerings of the house of the Lord—the valuation of the silver assessed for each man—all the silver which comes from the heart of the man who brings it into the house of the Lord, 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 6. let the priests take for themselves, each man from the silver that comes in. But they must maintain the repairs to the temple, whenever and whatever repairs are needed.” 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 7. Now it came to be that by the twenty-third year of King Joash, the priests had not maintained the repair of the temple. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 8. So King Joash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why have you not repaired and maintained the temple? Now take the silver from the treasury and use it to repair and maintain the temple.” 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 9. So the priests, all with one voice, agreed they would not receive any more silver from the people until they had made all the repairs to the temple. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 10. Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and placed it on the right side of the altar in the house of the Lord. Then the priests who kept the weights put in the chest all the money found in the house of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 11. And it came to be that whenever they noticed a large amount of silver in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest put it in bags and weighed the silver found that day in the house of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 12. Then they gave the silver apportioned for repairs into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the Lord, 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 13. to the masons, to the hewers of stone, to the buyers of wood, to make all repairs to the house of the Lord, and for all things discharged to maintain the house of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 14. However, silver doors, nails, bowls, and trumpets—any vessel of gold or vessel of silver—were not to be made from any of the silver brought into the house of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 15. For this was given to the workmen who repaired the house of the Lord with it, 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 16. for they did not require an account from the men into whose hands they delivered the silver, for the workmen dealt faithfully. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 17. Money for a sin offering, and money for a trespass offering, and any money brought into the house of the Lord went to the priests. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 18. In those days, Hazael king of Syria went up to wage war against Gath, and they captured it. Then Hazael set his face to war against Jerusalem. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 19. So Joash king of Judah took all the sacred things dedicated by his fathers, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, his own sacred things, all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and in the king's house, and sent them on to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 20. Now the rest of the acts of Joash and everything he did, are these not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 21. And his servants rose up and formed a conspiracy, and killed Joash in the house of the Millo in Silla. 4 Kingdoms 12, verse 22. For Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Amaziah his son reigned in his place.