2 Kings 12

1 In the seuenth yere of Iehu Iehoash began to reigne, and reigned fourty yeres in Ierusalem, and his mothers name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.

When Jehu had been ruling Israel for almost seven years, Joash became the king of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother was Zibiah, from Beersheba [city].

2 And Iehoash did that which was good in the sight of the Lord all his time that Iehoiada the Priest taught him.

All his life, he did what pleased Yahweh, because Jehoiada the priest instructed/taught him.

3 But the hie places were not taken away: for the people offred yet and burnt incense in the hie places.

But the places where the people worshiped [Yahweh] on the tops of hills were not destroyed, and they continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at those places, [instead of at the place that God had chosen for them in Jerusalem].

4 And Iehoash sayde to the Priestes, All the siluer of dedicate things that bee brought to the house of the Lord, that is, the money of them that are vnder the count, the money that euery man is set at, and all the money that one offereth willingly, and bringeth into the house of the Lord,

Joash said to the priests, “You must take all the money which the people contribute, both the money they are required to give and the money that they themselves decide to give, as sacred offerings to buy things for the temple.

5 Let the Priestes take it to them, euery man of his acquaintance: and they shall repaire the broken places of the house, wheresoeuer any decay is founde.

Each priest must take the money from people who know him (OR, from one of the treasurers), and he must use that money to repair the temple whenever he sees that there is something that needs to be repaired.”

6 Yet in the three and twentieth yeere of King Iehoash the Priestes had not mended that which was decayed in the Temple.

But after Joash had been ruling for almost twenty-three years, the priests still had not repaired anything in the temple.

7 Then King Iehoash called for Iehoiada the Priest, and the other Priestes, and sayd vnto them, Why repaire yee not the ruines of the Temple? nowe therefore receiue no more money of your acquaintance, except yee deliuer it to repaire the ruines of the Temple.

So Joash summoned Jehoiada and the other priests and said to them, “(Why are you not repairing things in the temple?/You should have been repairing things in the temple!) [RHQ] From now on, you must not keep the money that you receive from people who know you (OR, the treasurers). You must give it to the people who will be repairing things in the temple!”

8 So the Priestes consented to receiue no more money of the people, neither to repaire the decayed places of the Temple.

The priests agreed to do that, and they also agreed that they themselves would not do the repair work.

9 Then Iehoiada the Priest tooke a chest and bored an hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side, as euery man commeth into the Temple of the Lord. And the Priestes that kept the doore, put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.

Then Jehoiada took a chest and bored a hole in the lid. He placed it alongside the altar [for burning incense/sacrifices] that was on the right as anyone enters the temple. The priests who guarded the entrance to the temple put in the box the money that was brought to the temple.

10 And when they sawe there was much money in the chest, the Kinges Secretarie came vp and the hie Priest, and put it vp after that they had tolde the money that was found in the house of the Lord,

Whenever they saw that there was a lot of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the Supreme Priest would come and count the money. Then they would put it in bags and tie the bags shut.

11 And they gaue the money made readie into the handes of them, that vndertooke the worke, and that had the ouersight of the house of the Lord; and they payed it out to the carpenters and builders that wrought vpon the house of the Lord,

Then, after they weighed it, they would give the money to the men who supervised the work in the temple. Then the supervisors would use that money to pay the carpenters and builders who did the repair work in the temple,

12 And to the masons and hewers of stone, and to bye timber and hewed stone, to repayre that was decayed in the house of the Lord, and for all that which was layed out for the reparation of the Temple.

and the masons and the stone cutters. Also with some of that money they bought timber and stones that had been cut to be used in the repair work, and to pay all the other expenses for the repair work.

13 Howbeit there was not made for the house of the Lord bowles of siluer, instruments of musicke, basons, trumpets, nor any vessels of golde, or vessels of siluer of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.

But they did not use any of that money [to pay men] to make silver cups or wick trimmers or bowls or trumpets or any other items made of silver or gold to be used in the temple.

14 But they gaue it to the workemen, which repayred therewith the house of the Lord.

All that money was given to the men who were doing the work of repairing the temple.

15 Moreouer, they reckoned not with the men, into whose handes they deliuered that money to be bestowed on workemen: for they dealt faithfully.

The men who supervised the work always did things honestly, so the king’s secretary and the Supreme Priest never required that the supervisors report what they had spent the money for.

16 The money of the trespasse offring and the money of ye sinne offrings was not brought into the house of the Lord: for it was the Priests.

But the money that people gave to pay for the wrong things that they had done and the money they gave to purify themselves because of the sins that they had committed was not put in the chest. That money belonged to the priests.

17 Then came vp Hazael King of Aram, and fought against Gath and tooke it, and Hazael set his face to goe vp to Ierusalem.

At that time, Hazael, the king of Syria, went [with his army] and attacked Gath [city] and conquered it. Then he decided that they would attack Jerusalem.

18 And Iehoash King of Iudah tooke all the halowed thinges that Iehoshaphat, and Iehoram, and Ahaziah his fathers Kings of Iudah had dedicated, and that he himselfe had dedicated, and all the golde that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord and in the Kings house, and sent it to Hazael King of Aram, and he departed from Ierusalem.

So Joash, the king of Judah, took all the money that the previous kings, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, had dedicated to Yahweh. He added some of his own money, and all the gold that was in the rooms in the temple where valuable things were kept/stored, and the gold in his palace, and sent it all to King Hazael, [to (appease him/persuade him to not attack Jerusalem)]. So King Hazael [took his army] away from Jerusalem.

19 Concerning the rest of the acts of Ioash and all that he did, are they not written in the booke of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah?

[If you want to read more of] what Joash did, [it] is all written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

20 And his seruants arose and wrought treason, and slewe Ioash in the house of Millo, when he came downe to Silla:

Joash’s officials plotted against him, and two of them killed Joash on the road that goes down to [the] Silla [district]. The two men who did that were Jozabad, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer. Joash was buried in the place where his ancestors were buried, [in the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. Then Joash’s son Amaziah became the king of Judah.

21 Euen Iozachar the sonne of Shimeath, and Iehozabad the sonne of Shomer his seruants smote him, and he dyed: and they buried him with his fathers in the citie of Dauid. And Amaziah his sonne reigned in his stead.