Kings IV 12

1 Joas began to reign in the seventh year of Ju, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name [was] Sabia of Bersabee.

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 Joas did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days that Jodae the priest instructed him.

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

3 Only there were not [any] of the high places removed, and the people still sacrificed there, and burned incense on the high 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 Joas said to the priests, [As for] all the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the Lord, the money of valuation, [as] each man brings the money of valuation, all the money which any man may feel disposed to bring 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 priests take it to themselves, every man from [the proceeds of] his sale: and they shall repair the breaches of the house in all [places] wherever a breach shall be found.

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 And it came to pass in the twenty-third year of king Joas the priests [had] not repaired the breaches of the house.

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

7 And king Joas called Jodae the priest, and the [other] priests, and said to them, Why have you not repaired the breaches of the house? now then receive no [more] money from your sales, for you shall give it to [repair the] breaches of the house.

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 And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, and not to repair the breaches of the house.

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

9 And Jodae the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it by the altar in the house of a man [belonging to] the house of the Lord, and the priests that kept the door put [therein] all the money that was found in 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 it came to pass, when they saw that [there was] much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest went up, and they tied up and counted 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 gave the money that had been collected into the hands of them that wrought the works, the overseers of the house of the Lord; and they gave it out to the carpenters and to the builders that wrought in 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 to the hewers of stone, to purchase timber and hewn stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, for all that was spent on the house of the Lord to repair [it].

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 Only there were not to be made for the house of the Lord silver plates, studs, bowls, or trumpets, any vessel of gold or vessel of silver, 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 for they were to give it to the workmen, and they repaired therewith the house of the Lord.

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

15 Also they took no account of the men into whose hands they gave the money to give to the workmen, for they acted 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 Money for a sin-offering, and money for a trespass-offering, whatever happened to be brought into the house of the Lord, went to 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 went up Azael king of Syria, and fought against Geth, and took it: and Azael set his face to go against Jerusalem.

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 Joas king of Juda took all the holy things which Josaphat, and Joram, Ochozias, his fathers, and kings of Juda [had] consecrated, and what he had himself dedicated, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the Lord's house and the king's house, and he sent [them] to Azael king of Syria; and he went up from Jerusalem.

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 And the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, behold, [are] not these things written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Juda?

[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 servants rose up and made a conspiracy, and struck Joas in the house of Mallo that is in Sela.

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 And Jezirchar the son of Jemuath, and Jezabuth Somer's son, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amessias his son reigned in his stead.