UST by section 2 KI 12:1

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2 Kings 12

12 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. She was from the city of Beersheba. 2 Jehoiada the priest instructed him. As a result, throughout his life, Joash did things that pleased Yahweh. 3 However, Joash did not destroy the shrines on the tops of hills. The Judeans continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at those places instead of at the place that God had chosen for them in Jerusalem.

4 Joash told the priests, “People give money to Yahweh’s temple for several reasons. The law requires them to give some money to support the temple. Sometimes people dedicate people or animals to Yahweh and redeem them with money. And sometimes people just want to give money to the temple. 5 Each priest must take the money from the people who come to him, and he must use that money to pay for the repair of any damages that he discovers in the temple.” 6 But after Joash had been ruling for almost 23 years, the priests still had not made repairs in the temple. 7 So Joash summoned Jehoiada and the other priests and told them, “I told you that when people gave money for various reasons, you should use it to make repairs to the temple. But you have not been doing that. So do not collect that money any longer. Instead, use it to pay workers to make the repairs.” 8 The priests agreed that they would no longer collect that money or do the repair work.

9 Then Jehoiada took a chest and made a hole in its top. He put the box on the right side of the altar in the temple courtyard. Often people gave some money for the temple when they came to the temple courtyard. When they did, the priests who supervised the courtyard entrance put that money in the box. 10 Whenever the priests realized that there was a lot of money in the chest, they would ask the king’s secretary and the high priest to come and collect it. The secretary and priest took the money out of the chest and tied it up in bags. Then they weighed the bags to determine the value of this silver that people had given to the temple. 11 Then they would distribute the money to the men who supervised the work in the temple. The supervisors would use that money to pay the carpenters and builders who did the repair work in the temple. 12 They also used the money to pay masons and stone cutters and to buy timber and stones that workers had shaped. They used the timer and stone to repair damages in the temple. They also used the money to pay for all the other expenses of the repair work. 13 But they did not use any of that money to pay for silver cups or wick trimmers or bowls or trumpets or any other silver or gold items that the priests would use in the temple. 14 Instead, the supervisors gave all of that money to the men who were doing the work of repairing the temple. 15 The men who supervised the work acted honestly. So when the king’s secretary and the high priest gave them money to pay the workers, they never required them to report how they had spent that money. 16 Sometimes people gave money to the priests who offered the animals that they brought as sacrifices for guilt or sin. That money belonged to the priests, so the supervisors did not use it to repair the temple.

17 Later, Hazael king of Aram led his army to attack the city of Gath. They conquered it. Then he decided to lead his army to attack Jerusalem. 18 So King Joash of Judah got all of the gold and silver items that the previous kings, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, had dedicated to Yahweh. He also got the gold and silver items that he had dedicated. He also got all of the gold that was in the storerooms of the temple and his palace. He sent this treasure to King Hazael to persuade him to stop attacking Jerusalem. So King Hazael led his army away from Jerusalem.

19 The book in which the kings of Judah recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Joash did. 20 Joash’s officials plotted against him, and two of them ambushed him in Beth Millo, on the road that goes down to the district of Silla. 21 The two officials who ambushed Joash were Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer. They killed him. The Judeans buried Joash in the part of Jerusalem that people called the City of David. That is where people had also buried his ancestors. Then Joash’s son Amaziah became the next king of Judah.

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UST by section 2 KI 12:1

2 Kings 12

UST by section 2 KI 12:1