2 Kings 12-13

GOD’S WORD Translation

12 ^[a]Joash began to rule in Jehu’s seventh year as king of Israel, and he ruled for 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. ² Joash did what the Lord considered right, as long as the priest Jehoiada instructed him. ³ But the illegal places of worship weren’t torn down. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at these worship sites.

⁴ Joash told the priests, “⌞Collect⌟ all the holy contributions that are brought into the Lord’s temple—the money each person is currently required to bring and all the money brought voluntarily to the Lord’s temple. ⁵ Each of the priests should receive it from the donors and use it to make repairs on the temple where they are needed.”

⁶ But by Joash’s twenty-third year as king, the priests still had not repaired the temple. ⁷ So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage in the temple? Don’t take any more money from the donors ⌞for your own use⌟. Instead, use it to make repairs on the temple.” ⁸ The priests agreed neither to receive money from the people ⌞for personal use⌟ nor to be responsible for repairing the temple.

⁹ Then the priest Jehoiada took a box, drilled a hole in its lid, and put it at the right side of the altar as one comes into the Lord’s temple. The priests who guarded the entrance put the money that was brought to the Lord’s temple in the box. ¹⁰ Whenever they saw a lot of money in the box, the king’s scribe and the chief priest would collect and count the money that was donated in the Lord’s temple. ¹¹ Then they would give the money that had been weighed to the men who had been appointed to work on the Lord’s temple. They used it to pay the carpenters, builders, ¹² masons, and stonecutters. They also used it to buy wood and cut stones to make repairs on the Lord’s temple and to buy anything else that they needed for the temple repairs. ¹³ But no silver bowls, snuffers, dishes, trumpets, or any other gold and silver utensils were made for the Lord’s temple with the money that was brought. ¹⁴ Instead, the money was given to the workmen, and they used it to repair the temple. ¹⁵ They didn’t require the men who were entrusted with the money for the workers to give an account, because they were honest people. ¹⁶ The money from the guilt offerings and the offerings for sin was not brought into the Lord’s temple. It belonged to the priests.

¹⁷ At this time King Hazael of Aram fought against Gath and conquered it. He was also determined to attack Jerusalem. ¹⁸ So King Joash of Judah took all the gifts his ancestors Kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah of Judah, had dedicated to the Lord, the things he had dedicated to the Lord, and all the gold that could be found in the storerooms of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent these things to King Hazael of Aram, who called off the attack on Jerusalem.

King Joash Is Assassinated^(A)

¹⁹ Isn’t everything else about Joash—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ His own officials plotted against him and killed him at Beth Millo on the road that goes down to Silla. ²¹ Joash’s officials Jozacar, son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of Shomer, executed him. They buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

King Jehoahaz of Israel

13 Ahaziah’s son King Joash of Judah was in his twenty-third year as king of Judah when Jehoahaz,^[b] son of Jehu, began to rule in Samaria as king of Israel. He ruled for 17 years. ² He did what the Lord considered evil. He continued to commit the sins that Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) led Israel to commit. He never gave up committing those sins. ³ So the Lord became angry with Israel and put it at the mercy of King Hazael of Aram and Hazael’s son Benhadad as long as they lived.

⁴ Then Jehoahaz pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord heard him because he saw how the Aramean king was oppressing Israel. ⁵ So the Lord gave the Israelites someone to save them, and they were freed from Aram’s power. They were able to live in their homes again as they had done before. ⁶ But they didn’t turn away from the sins that Jeroboam and his dynasty led Israel to commit. They continued to commit those sins. In addition, the pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah remained standing in Samaria.

⁷ Jehoahaz had no army left except for 50 horses, 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers because the king of Aram had destroyed the rest. He had made them like dust that people trample. ⁸ Isn’t everything else about Jehoahaz—everything he did, his heroic acts—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ⁹ Jehoahaz lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoash ^[c] ruled as king in his place.

King Jehoash of Israel

¹⁰ In Joash’s thirty-seventh year as king of Judah, Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash began to rule Israel in Samaria. He ruled for 16 years. ¹¹ He did what the Lord considered evil and never gave up committing the sins that Jeroboam led Israel to commit. He continued to commit them. ¹² Isn’t everything else about Jehoash—everything he did, his heroic acts when he fought against King Amaziah of Judah—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ¹³ Jehoash lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with the kings of Israel in Samaria. Then Jeroboam claimed the throne.

The Death of Elisha

¹⁴ Elisha became fatally ill. King Jehoash of Israel visited him, cried over him, and said, “Master! Master! Israel’s chariot and horses!”

¹⁵ Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” So he got a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶ Then Elisha told the king of Israel, “Take the bow in your hand.” So the king picked up the bow. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷ Elisha said, “Open the window that faces east.” So the king opened it. “Shoot,” Elisha said, and the king shot. Then Elisha said, “That is the arrow of the Lord’s victory, the arrow of victory against Aram. You will completely defeat the Arameans at Aphek.” ¹⁸ Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows.” So the king took them. “Stomp on them,” he told the king of Israel. The king stomped three times and stopped.

¹⁹ Then the man of God became angry with him. “You should have stomped five or six times!” he said. “Then you would have completely defeated the Arameans. But now you will only defeat the Arameans three times.”

²⁰ Elisha died and was buried. Moabite raiding parties used to invade the country in the spring. ²¹ One day some people who were burying a man saw one of these raiding parties. So they quickly put the man into Elisha’s tomb. But when the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came back to life and stood up.

²² King Hazael of Aram oppressed Israel as long as Jehoahaz ruled. ²³ But the Lord was kind and merciful to the Israelites because of his promise ^[d] to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He didn’t want to destroy the Israelites, and even now he hasn’t turned away from them.

²⁴ King Hazael of Aram died, and his son Benhadad succeeded him as king. ²⁵ Then Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, reconquered the cities that Benhadad had taken from his father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Benhadad three times and recovered those cities of Israel.