2 Kings 12-13

Complete Jewish Bible

12 ^(11:21) Y’ho’ash was seven years old when he began his reign. ^2 (1) It was in the seventh year of Yehu that Y’ho’ash began to rule, and he ruled forty years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Tzivyah, from Be’er-Sheva. ^3 (2) Y’ho’ash did what was right from Adonai’s perspective throughout the lifetime of Y’hoyada the cohen, who instructed him. ^4 (3) Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and presented offerings on the high places.

^5 (4) Y’ho’ash said to the cohanim, “All the funds for sacred purposes which are brought to the house of Adonai — the half-shekel tax, the taxes on persons in a man’s household, and all the offerings anyone voluntarily brings to the house of Adonai — ^6 (5) the cohanim are to receive from whoever personally makes contributions to them; and they are to use these funds to repair the damaged parts of the house, wherever damage is found. ^7 (6) But twenty-three years into the reign of King Y’ho’ash, the cohanim had still not repaired the damaged places in the house. ^8 (7) So King Y’ho’ash summoned Y’hoyada the cohen and the other cohanim and said to them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damaged places in the house? Therefore, you are no longer to take money from those who contribute it personally to you; you must hand it over to be used for repairing the damage in the house.” ^9 (8) The cohanim agreed not to receive money from the people, and they would no longer be responsible for repairing the damage to the house.

^10 (9) Then Y’hoyada the cohen took a chest, drilled a hole in its lid and set it by the altar, on the right, as one enters the house of Adonai; and the cohanim in charge of the entry put in it all the money brought into the house of Adonai. ^11 (10) When they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the cohen hagadol would come up, count the money found in the house of Adonai and put it in bags. ^12 (11) Then they would give the weighed-out money to those supervising the work in the house of Adonai, who would use it to pay the carpenters and construction-workers doing the work in the house of Adonai, ^13 (12) on masons, stone-workers, timber, worked stone and everything else needed for repairing the damaged places in the house of Adonai. ^14 (13) But none of the money brought into the house of Adonai was used to make silver cups, snuffers, bowls, trumpets or other articles of gold or silver for the house of Adonai; ^15 (14) because they gave the money to those doing the work, thus restricting its use to repairing the damage in the house of Adonai. ^16 (15) Moreover, they did not require an accounting from the supervisors given the money to pay the workers, because they dealt honestly. ^17 (16) Money from guilt offerings and sin offerings, however, was not brought into the house of Adonai; it went to the cohanim.

^18 (17) Haza’el king of Aram went up and fought against Gat; and after capturing it, Haza’el made his decision to attack Yerushalayim. ^19 (18) Y’ho’ash king of Y’hudah took all the consecrated articles that Y’hoshafat, Y’horam and Achazyah, his ancestors, kings of Y’hudah, had dedicated, as well as his own consecrated articles and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of Adonai and of the royal palace, and sent them to Haza’el king of Aram, who then withdrew from Yerushalayim.

^20 (19) Other activities of Yo’ash and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

^21 (20) Then his servants got together, formed a conspiracy and murdered Yo’ash at Beit-Millo on the way down to Sila. ^22 (21) His servants Yozakhar the son of Shim‘at and Y’hozavad the son of Shomer struck him, so that he died. They buried him with his ancestors in the City of David, and Amatzyah his son took his place as king.

13 It was in the twenty-third year of Yo’ash the son of Achazyah, king of Y’hudah, that Y’ho’achaz the son of Yehu began his reign over Isra’el in Shomron; he ruled for seventeen years. ² He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective; he followed the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who made Isra’el sin; and he never ceased committing those sins. ³ Adonai’s anger burned against Isra’el, and he kept handing them over to Haza’el king of Aram and Ben-Hadad the son of Haza’el. ⁴ But Y’ho’achaz pleaded to Adonai, and Adonai listened to him, because he saw the oppression the king of Aram was inflicting on Isra’el. ⁵ So Adonai gave Isra’el a savior who freed them from the grip of Aram, so that the people of Isra’el could live in their tents, as they had before. ⁶ Despite that, instead of turning from the sins of the house of Yarov‘am, who made Isra’el sin, they continued to live in this sinful way. Moreover, the asherah continued to stand in Shomron. ⁷ The king of Aram destroyed Y’ho’achaz’s army, making them like chaff when grain is threshed, except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers.

⁸ Other activities of Y’ho’achaz, all his accomplishments and his power are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el. ⁹ Y’ho’achaz slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in Shomron. Then Yo’ash his son took his place as king.

¹⁰ It was in the thirty-seventh year of Yo’ash king of Y’hudah that Yo’ash the son of Y’ho’achaz began his rule over Isra’el in Shomron; he ruled for sixteen years. ¹¹ He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective and did not turn from all the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who made Isra’el sin; on the contrary, he lived in this sinful way.

¹² Other activities of Yo’ash, all his accomplishments and his power in fighting Amatzyah king of Y’hudah are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el. ¹³ Yo’ash slept with his ancestors, and Yarov‘am occupied his throne. Yo’ash was buried in Shomron with the kings of Isra’el.

¹⁴ Elisha was now ill with the disease from which he would eventually die. Yo’ash the king of Isra’el came down to visit him and wept over him; he said, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Isra’el!” ¹⁵ Elisha said to him, “Bring a bow and arrows”; and he brought him a bow and arrows. ¹⁶ He said to the king of Isra’el, “Put your hand on the bow”; and he put his hand on it. Then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands ¹⁷ and said, “Open the east window.” He opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. He said, “Adonai’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory against Aram! You will defeat Aram completely at Afek!” ¹⁸ He said, “Take the arrows”; and he took them. He told the king of Isra’el, “Strike the ground.” He struck three times, then stopped. ¹⁹ The man of God became angry with him; he said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram completely. As it is, you will defeat Aram only three times.”

²⁰ Elisha died, and they placed him in a burial cave. Now the raiding parties of Mo’av used to make yearly incursions into the land at the start of the year. ²¹ Once it happened that just as they were burying a man, they spotted a raiding party; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s burial cave; and the moment the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

²² Haza’el king of Aram oppressed Isra’el throughout the lifetime of Y’ho’achaz; ²³ but Adonai was gracious, took pity on them and looked on them with favor, because of his covenant with Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov. He was not willing to destroy them, and to this day he has not banished them from his presence. ²⁴ Haza’el king of Aram died, and Ben-Hadad his son took his place as king. ²⁵ Then Y’ho’ash the son of Y’ho’achaz captured from Ben-Hadad the son of Haza’el the cities which he had captured in war from Y’ho’achaz his father. Three times Yo’ash defeated him, thus recovering the cities of Isra’el.