2 Kings 12
1 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].
他在耶胡第七年即位為王，在耶路撒冷作王凡四十年。他的母親名叫漆彼雅，是貝耳舍巴人。
2 All his life, he did what pleased Yahweh, because Jehoiada the priest instructed/taught him.
約阿士在司祭約雅達教導他期間，行了上主視為正義的事，
3 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].
只是沒有廢除高丘，人民仍在高丘上焚香獻祭。
4 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.
約阿士對司祭說：「凡人向上主的殿繳納作獻儀錢，不論是人丁贖金，或樂意捐獻於上主殿中的錢，
5 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.”
司祭們都可以接收，每人也可向相識的人去勸捐；但司祭們應該修理聖殿需要修理的破壞之處。」
6 But after Joash had been ruling for almost twenty-three years, the priests still had not repaired anything in the temple.
但是，直到約阿士王第二十三年，司祭尚未修理聖殿的破壞之處。
7 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!”
於是約阿士王將約雅達大司祭和其他司祭召來，問他們說：「你們為什麼不修理聖殿破壞之處﹖現在你們不要再向相識的人收錢了；應把所有的錢交出，用來修理聖殿的破壞之處。」
8 The priests agreed to do that, and they also agreed that they themselves would not do the repair work.
司祭們就同意不再向人民收錢，也不再負責修理聖殿的破壞之處。
9 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.
司祭約雅達於是拿來一個箱子，箱子上面開了一個口，安放在祭壇旁邊，即在上主聖殿入口的右邊，守門的司祭將所有獻於上主聖殿的銀錢，放入箱內。
10 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.
幾時看見箱內的錢夠多了，君王的秘書和大司祭就上來，把錢倒出，數點上主殿內所有的銀錢。
11 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,
他們將秤好了的錢，交給上主殿內間監工的管理員，由他們發給在上主殿內工作的木匠和建築工人，
12 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.
泥水匠和石匠，或購買木料和鑿刻好的石頭，用來修補上主殿內的破壞之處；總之，用來作為修理聖殿的費用。
13 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.
進獻於上主聖殿的銀錢，並沒有用來製造上主殿內的銀盆、燭剪、盤子、號筒，或任何金銀器皿，
14 All that money was given to the men who were doing the work of repairing the temple.
只是將銀錢交給工作人員，用來修理上主的殿。
15 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.
也並不需要向那些經手收錢付給工人的人算賬，因為他們做事忠信可靠。
16 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.
至於獻作贖過祭和贖罪祭的錢，不歸於上主的殿，全歸於司祭。
17 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.
那時，阿蘭王哈匝耳上來攻打加特，也攻下了，準備進攻耶路撒冷。
18 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.
猶大王約阿士就將他祖先猶大王約沙法特、約蘭和阿哈齊雅所奉獻的聖物，同他自己奉獻的聖物，以及上主聖殿和王宮的府庫內儲藏的金子，全部取出來，送給了阿蘭王哈匝耳；哈匝耳就離開了耶路撒冷。
19 [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’.
約阿士其餘的事蹟，他行的一切，都記載在猶大列王實錄上。
20 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.
約阿士的臣僕起來結黨謀反，在約阿士下到米羅宮時，將他殺死；
殺他的是他的臣僕史默阿特的兒子約匝加爾和芍默爾的兒子約匝巴得。他死後，人將他葬在達味城，與祖先埋在一起；他的兒子阿瑪責雅繼位為王。
