2Ki 12 | EE | STEP | Joash became king of Judah in the 7th year that Jehu was king of Israel. Joash ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was Zibiah. She came from Beersheba.

2 Kings 12

Joash makes repairs to God’s house

1 Joash became king of Judah in the 7th year that Jehu was king of Israel. Joash ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was Zibiah. She came from Beersheba. 2 In all the years that Jehoiada the priest taught him, Joash did right things. The LORD saw the right things. 3 But he did not remove the high places. The people continued to burn animals and to burn incense in the high places.

4 Joash said to all the priests, ‘There is money that people offer to God for the house of the LORD. Bring all this money together:

what each man pays to the government;
what each man offers to the LORD;
what each man gives to the LORD‘s house.

5 Each priest must take some of this money. They must use the money to make repairs to the house of the LORD, where people have broken it.’ 6 Joash had been king for 23 years. In that time, the priests had not made any repairs to the house of the LORD! 7 So King Joash asked Jehoiada and the other priests to come to him. He said to them, ‘There are no repairs to the parts of the house of the LORD where somebody has broken it. But there should be. Do not take any more money from the people that give it to you. Give it to the people that make repairs to the house of the LORD.’ 8 The priests agreed that they would not take any money from the people. Also, they agreed that they would not make repairs to the house of the LORD themselves.

9 Jehoiada the priest got a large box. He made a hole in the top of it. He put it outside the door of the house of the LORD. It was by the altar, on the right side of the door. Some priests made the door of the house of the LORD safe. They put into the box all the money that people brought to the house of the LORD. 10 Every time that there was a large amount of money in the box, they counted the money. The leader of the priests and the king’s servant who wrote things down did that. Then, they took the money from the box in the house of the LORD. And they put it into bags. 11 Then they gave the money that they had counted to some men. They had made these men the leaders of the workers in the house of the LORD. The leaders used the money to pay the men that cut the wood. And they used it to pay the builders in the house of the LORD. 12 They also paid the men that used stones. And they paid the men that cut stones. They bought wood. And they bought stones that people had cut. They bought them for the repairs to the house of the LORD. And they paid all the other bills for the repairs to the house of the LORD.

13 But they did not spend any of this money to buy anything that they used in the LORD‘s house. This was the money that people had brought into the house of the LORD. They did not use it to buy any of these things:

silver bowls
tools that they used to cause their lights to burn well
bowls that people used to pour water or oil on to things
trumpets.

14 They used all the money to pay the workers. The workers used it to mend the house of the LORD. 15 The priests gave the money to the leaders of the workers. But they did not ask these leaders to show them the bills. Everybody was very honest. 16 They did not bring other money into the house of the LORD. People offered this money because they had done wrong things. It was for the priests.

17 Hazael was the king of Aram. He went to Gath and his army attacked it. His army beat the people in Gath. Then Hazael went to attack Jerusalem.

18 Joash was the king of Judah. He sent all these special things to Hazael who was the king of Aram:

the gifts that the kings of Judah who were before him had given to God. These kings were Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah.
the gifts that Joash himself had given to God,
all the gold that was in the house of the LORD and in the king’s palace.

So Hazael left Jerusalem and he did not attack it.

19 Other things happened while Joash was king. Everything that he did is in a book. It is called ‘the reports about the kings of Judah’. 20 Joash’s officers decided to kill him. They killed him in the house of Millo, which is on the road down to Silla. The officers that killed him were Jozabad, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer. After he died, people buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. Amaziah, his son, became king after Joash.

Notes about chapter 12 ^{▼▼12:21 Verse 2 Jehoiada was the leader of the priests.} ^{▼▼12:21 Verses 5-6 We are not sure when Joash asked for repairs to the house of the LORD. But when he was 30, the priests had not done any repairs!} ^{▼▼12:21 Verse 8 The priests agreed that somebody else would make repairs to the house of the LORD.} ^{▼▼12:21 Verse 18 Hazael took the special things in the LORD‘s house. The priests only used these things when they worshipped the LORD.}