2 Kings 11:21-12:14

GOD’S WORD Translation

King Joash of Judah^(A)

²¹ Joash ^[a] was seven years old when he began to rule.

12 ^[b]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.