Joash Repairs the Temple (2 Chronicles 24:1–14)
1 UST 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. 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 UST Jehoiada the priest instructed him. As a result, throughout his life, Joash did things that pleased Yahweh. 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 UST 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}. BSB BSB: Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.
4 UST 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. 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 UST 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.” BSB BSB: Let every priest receive it from his constituency, and let it be used to repair any damage found in the temple.”
6 UST But after Joash had been ruling for almost 23 years, the priests still had not made repairs 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 UST 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.” 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 UST The priests agreed that they would no longer collect that money or 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 UST 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. 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 UST 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. 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 UST 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. 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 UST 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. 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 UST 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. 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 UST Instead, the supervisors gave all of that money 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 UST 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. BSB BSB: No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay the workmen, because they acted with integrity.
16 UST 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. 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 UST 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. 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.
19 UST The book in which the kings of Judah recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Joash did. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Joash, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
20 UST 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. 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 UST 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. 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.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.