2 Kings 12

1 In the seventh year of Jehu, began Jehoash to reign, and, forty years, reigned he in Jerusalem, —and, the name of his mother, 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 Jehoash did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh all his days, —whereunto, Jehoiada the priest, instructed him:

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

3 save only, that, the high places, took they not away, —still were the people sacrificing and burning incense in 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 Jehoash said unto the priests, —All the silver of the hallowed things, that is brought into the house of Yahweh—the silver of one who transgresseth, the silver of [their] persons by the estimate of, each one, —all the silver which it cometh into any man’s heart to bring into the house of Yahweh,

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 to them, every one from his acquaintance, —and let, them, repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever there may be found a breach.

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 But it came to pass, that, in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, 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 So King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests, and said unto them—Why are ye not repairing the breaches of the house? Now, therefore, do not take silver from your acquaintances, for, to [repair] the breaches of the house, ought ye to have given it?

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 The priests therefore consented, not to take silver from 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 Then took Jehoiada a certain chest, and bored a hole in the door thereof, —and set it beside the altar, on the right as one entereth into the house of Yahweh, and the priests that kept the entrance-hall, used to put therein—all the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh.

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 silver in the chest, that the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and brought together and counted the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh;

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 then used they to give the silver that had been weighed out, into the hands of the doers of the work, who had oversight of the house of Yahweh, —and they brought it forth, to the carpenters, and to the builders, who were working upon the house of Yahweh;

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, and to buy timber, and hewn stone, for repairing the breaches of the house of Yahweh, —and to every one that went out upon the house, 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 Howbeit there were not made for the house of Yahweh, bowls of silver, snuffers, dashing basins, trumpets, any vessel of gold, or any vessel of silver, —out of the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh;

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, to the doers of the work, used they to give it; and so they repaired, therewith, the house of Yahweh.

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

15 And they used not to reckon with the men into whose hands they gave the silver, to give it to the doers of the work, because, with faithfulness, were, they, dealing.

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 Silver for guilt-offerings and silver for sin-offerings, was not brought into the house of Yahweh, —to the priests, they belonged.

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 up Hazael, king of Syria, and fought against Gath, and captured it, —so Hazael set his face to go up 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 Therefore did Jehoash, king of Judah, take all the hallowed things which Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had hallowed, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, —and sent to Hazael king of Syria, so he went up from against 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 Now, the rest of the story of Joash, and all that he did, are, they, not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

[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 arose and made a conspiracy, and smote Joash, in the house of Millo which teeth down 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 Yea, Jozabar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, that he died, and he was buried with his fathers, in the city of David, —and, Amaziah his son, reigned in his stead.