Joash Repairs the Temple

(2 Kings 12:1–16)

Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; vvv she was from Beersheba. 2 And Joash did [what was] right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

4 

Some time later Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD. 5 So he gathered the priests and Levites and said“Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the house of your God. Do it quickly.”

The Levites, however, did not make haste. 6 So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said“Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?”

7 

For the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had even used the sacred objects of the house of the LORD for the Baals.

8 

At the king’s command a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the house of the LORD. 9 And a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they were to bring to the LORD the tax [imposed by] Moses the servant of God on Israel in the wilderness. 10 All the officers and all the people rejoiced and brought their contributions, and they dropped them in the chest until it was full.

11 

Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal scribe and the officer of the high priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance. 12 Then the king and Jehoiada would give [the money] to those who supervised the labor on the house of the LORD to hire stonecutters and carpenters to restore the house of the LORD, as well as workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the LORD.

13 

So the workmen labored, and in their hands the repair work progressed. They restored the house of God according to its specifications, and they reinforced it. 14 When they were finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the house of the LORD — utensils for the service and for the burnt offerings, dishes, and other objects of gold and silver.

Throughout the days of Jehoiada, burnt offerings were presented regularly in the house of the LORD.

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