2 Kings 12; 2 Kings 13; 2 Chronicles 24

2 Kings 12

1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king; he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah, who was from Beer-sheba.

2 Throughout the time Jehoiada the priest instructed him, Joash did what was right in the Lord's sight.

3 Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

4 Then Joash said to the priests, "All the dedicated money brought to the Lord's temple, census money, money from vows, and all money voluntarily given for the Lord's temple,

5 each priest is to take from his assessor and repair whatever damage to the temple is found.

6 But by the twenty-third year [of the reign] of King Joash, the priests had not repaired the damage to the temple.

7 So King Joash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said, "Why haven't you repaired the temple's damage? Since you haven't, don't take any money from your assessors; instead, hand it over for the repair of the temple."

8 So the priests agreed they would not take money from the people and they would not repair the temple's damage.

9 Then 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 Lord's temple; in it the priests who guarded the threshold put all the money brought into the Lord's temple.

10 Whenever they saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest would go to the Lord's temple and count the money found there and tie it up in bags.

11 Then they would put the counted money into the hands of those doing the work-those who oversaw the Lord's temple. They [in turn] would pay it out to those working on the Lord's temple-the carpenters, the builders,

12 the masons, and the stonecutters-and [would use it] to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the damage to the Lord's temple and for all spending for temple repairs.

13 However, no silver bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver were made for the Lord's temple from the money brought into the temple.

14 Instead, it was given to those doing the work, and they repaired the Lord's temple with it.

15 No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay those doing the work, since they worked with integrity.

16 The money from the restitution offering and the sin offering was not brought to the Lord's temple since it belonged to the priests.

17 At that time Hazael king of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he planned to attack Jerusalem.

18 So King Joash of Judah took all the consecrated items that his ancestors-Judah's kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah-had consecrated, along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and in the king's palace, and he sent [them] to Hazael king of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

19 The rest of the events of Joash's [reign], along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.

20 Joash's servants conspired against him and killed him at Beth-millo [on the road that] goes down to Silla.

21 His servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him down, and he died. Then they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Amaziah became king in his place.

2 Kings 13

1 In the twenty-third year of Judah's King Joash son of Ahaziah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria; [he reigned] 17 years.

2 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.

3 So the Lord's anger burned against Israel, and He surrendered them to the power of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad during their reigns.

4 Then Jehoahaz sought the Lord's favor, and the Lord heard him, for He saw the oppression the king of Aram inflicted on Israel.

5 Therefore, the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped from the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel dwelt in their tents as before,

6 but they didn't turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. Jehoahaz walked in them, and the Asherah pole also remained standing in Samaria.

7 Jehoahaz did not have an army left, except for 50 horsemen, 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them, making them like dust at threshing.

8 The rest of the events of Jehoahaz's [reign], along with all his accomplishments and his might, are written about in the Historical Record of Israel's Kings.

9 Jehoahaz rested with his fathers, and he was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoash became king in his place.

10 In the thirty-seventh year of Judah's King Joash, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria; [he reigned] 16 years.

11 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight. He did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit, but he walked in them.

12 The rest of the events of Jehoash's [reign], along with all his accomplishments and the power he had to wage war against Judah's King Amaziah, are written about in the Historical Record of Israel's Kings.

13 Jehoash rested with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

14 When Elisha became sick with the illness that he died from, Jehoash king of Israel went down and wept over him and said, "My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!"

15 Elisha responded, "Take a bow and arrows." So he got a bow and arrows.

16 Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." So the king put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.

17 Elisha said, "Open the east window." So he opened it. Elisha said, "Shoot!" So he shot. Then Elisha said, "The Lord's arrow of victory, yes, the arrow of victory over Aram. You are to strike down the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them."

18 Then Elisha said, "Take the arrows!" So he took them, and he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground!" So he struck the ground three times and stopped.

19 The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to them, but now you will only strike down Aram three times."

20 Then Elisha died and was buried. Now marauding bands of Moabites used to come into the land in the spring of the year.

21 Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a marauding band, so they threw the man into Elisha's tomb. When he touched Elisha's bones, the man revived and stood up!

22 Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz,

23 but the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them. Even now He has not banished them from His presence.

24 King Hazael of Aram died, and his son Ben-hadad became king in his place.

25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took back from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that Hazael had taken in war from Jehoash's father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad three times and recovered the cities of Israel.

2 Chronicles 24

1 Joash was seven years old when he became king; he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah; [she was] from Beer-sheba.

2 Throughout the time of Jehoiada the priest, Joash did what was right in the Lord's sight.

3 Jehoiada acquired two wives for him, and he was the father of sons and daughters.

4 Afterwards, Joash took it to heart to renovate the Lord's temple.

5 So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, "Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year, and do it quickly." However, the Levites did not hurry.

6 So the king called Jehoiada the high [priest] and said, "Why haven't you required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax [imposed by] the Lord's servant Moses and the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?

7 For the sons of that wicked Athaliah broke into the Lord's temple and even used the sacred things of the Lord's temple for the Baals."

8 At the king's command a chest was made and placed outside the gate of the Lord's temple.

9 Then a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax God's servant Moses [imposed] on Israel in the wilderness be brought to the Lord.

10 All the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought [the tax], and put it in the chest until it was full.

11 Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king's overseers, and when they saw that there was a large amount of money, the king's secretary and the high priest's deputy came and emptied the chest, picked it up, and returned it to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance.

12 Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those in charge of the labor on the Lord's temple, who were hiring masons and carpenters to renovate the Lord's temple, also blacksmiths and coppersmiths to repair the Lord's temple.

13 The workmen did their work, and through them the repairs progressed. They restored God's temple to its specifications and reinforced it.

14 When they finished, they presented the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, who made articles for the Lord's temple with it-articles for ministry and for making burnt offerings, and ladles and articles of gold and silver. They regularly offered burnt offerings in the Lord's temple throughout Jehoiada's life.

15 Jehoiada died when he was old and full of days; he was 130 years old at his death.

16 He was buried in the city of David with the kings because he had done [what was] good in Israel with respect to God and His temple.

17 However, after Jehoiada died, the rulers of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them,

18 and they abandoned the temple of the Lord God of their ancestors and served the Asherah poles and the idols. So there was wrath against Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

19 Nevertheless, He sent them prophets to bring them back to the Lord; they admonished them, but they would not listen.

20 The Spirit of God took control of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, "This is what God says: 'Why are you transgressing the Lord's commands and you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, He has abandoned you.' "

21 But they conspired against him and stoned him at the king's command in the courtyard of the Lord's temple.

22 King Joash didn't remember the kindness that Zechariah's father Jehoiada had extended to him, but killed his son. While he was dying, he said, "May the Lord see and demand an account."

23 At the turn of the year, an Aramean army went to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus.

24 Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, the Lord handed over a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. So they executed judgment on Joash.

25 When the Arameans saw that Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants conspired against him, and killed him on his bed, because he had shed the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of the Ammonite woman Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of the Moabite woman Shimrith.

27 Concerning his sons, the many oracles about him, and the restoration of the Lord's temple, they are recorded in the Writing of the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah became king in his place.