Joash Repairs the Temple (2 Chronicles 24:1–14)
1 UDB When Jehu had been ruling Israel for almost seven years, Joash became the king of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother was Zibiah from the city of Beersheba. BSB BSB: In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.
2 UDB All during the time that Joash was alive, he did what pleased Yahweh because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. BSB BSB: And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days he was instructed by Jehoiada the priest.
3 UDB But the places where the people worshiped Yahweh elsewhere in the land were not destroyed. They continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at those places instead of at the place that God had chosen for them in Jerusalem. BSB BSB: Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.
4 UDB Joash said to the priests, "You must take all the money that the people give as sacred offerings to buy things for the temple, both the money they are required to pay and the money that they themselves decide to give. BSB BSB: Then Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money brought as sacred gifts into the house of the LORD—the census money, the money from vows, and the money brought voluntarily into the house of the LORD.
5 UDB Each priest must take the money from the people who come to him, and he must use that money to repair the temple whenever he sees that there is something that needs to be repaired." BSB BSB: Let every priest receive it from his constituency, and let it be used to repair any damage found in the temple.”
6 UDB But after Joash had been ruling for almost twenty-three years, the priests still had not repaired anything in the temple. BSB BSB: By the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash, however, the priests had not yet repaired the damage to the temple.
7 UDB So Joash summoned Jehoiada and the other priests and said to them, "Why are you not repairing things in the temple? Do not take any more money from those who are paying taxes. Take the money that was collected for the purpose of repairing the temple and pay that money to the workers who will do the repairs." BSB BSB: So King Joash called Jehoiada and the other priests and said, “Why have you not repaired the damage to the temple? Now, therefore, take no more money from your constituency, but hand it over for the repair of the temple.”
8 UDB The priests agreed to do that, and they also agreed that they themselves would not do the repair work. BSB BSB: So the priests agreed that they would not receive money from the people and that they would not repair the temple themselves.
9 UDB Then Jehoiada took a chest and bored a hole in the lid. He placed it alongside the altar for burning incense that was on the right as anyone enters the temple. The priests who guarded the entrance to the temple put in the box the money that was brought to the temple. BSB BSB: Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the house of the LORD. There the priests who guarded the threshold put all the money brought into the house of the LORD.
10 UDB Whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest would come and count the money. Then they would put it in bags and tie the bags shut. BSB BSB: Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal scribe and the high priest would go up, count the money brought into the house of the LORD, and tie it up in bags.
11 UDB Then they would distribute the money to the men who supervised the work in the temple. The supervisors would use that money to pay those who did the repair work in the temple—the carpenters and builders BSB BSB: Then they would put the counted money into the hands of those who supervised the work on the house of the LORD, who in turn would pay those doing the work—the carpenters, builders,
12 UDB and the masons and stonecutters. Also, with some of that money they bought timber and stones that had been cut to be used in the repair work and to pay all the other expenses for the repair work. BSB BSB: masons, and stonecutters. They also purchased timber and dressed stone to repair the damage to the house of the LORD, and they paid the other expenses of the temple repairs.
13 UDB But they did not use any of that money to pay men to make silver cups or wick trimmers for the lamps or bowls or trumpets or any other items made of silver or gold to be used in the temple. BSB BSB: However, the money brought into the house of the LORD was not used for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver for the house of the LORD.
14 UDB All that money was given to the men who were doing the work of repairing the temple. BSB BSB: Instead, it was paid to those doing the work, and with it they repaired the house of the LORD.
15 UDB The men who supervised the work always did things honestly, so the king's secretary and the high priest never required that the supervisors report what they had spent the money for. BSB BSB: No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay the workmen, because they acted with integrity.
16 UDB But the money that people gave to pay for sacrifices for their sins was not put in the chest. That money belonged to the priests. BSB BSB: The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.
The Death of Joash (2 Chronicles 24:23–27)
18 UDB So Joash, the king of Judah, took all the money that the previous kings Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah had dedicated to Yahweh. He added some of his own money and all the gold that was in the rooms in the temple where valuable things were kept, and he sent it all to King Hazael to persuade him not to attack Jerusalem. So King Hazael took his army away from Jerusalem. BSB BSB: So King Joash of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram. So Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.
20 UDB All the other things that Joash did are written in the book of the events of the kings of Judah. BSB BSB: And the servants of Joash rose up and formed a conspiracy and killed him at Beth-millo, on the road down to Silla.
21 UDB Joash's officials plotted against him, and two of them killed Joash on the road that goes down to the district of Silla. The two men who did that were Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer. Joash was buried in the place where his ancestors were buried, in the part of Jerusalem called the city of David. Then Joash's son Amaziah became the king of Judah. BSB BSB: His servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him down, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Amaziah reigned in his place.
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