17 And Jehoiada kmade a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord’s people, and also lbetween the king and the people. 18 Then all the people of the land went to mthe house of Baal and tore it down; nhis altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the Lord. 19 And he took the captains, othe Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through pthe gate of the guards to the king’s house. And he took his seat on the throne of the kings. 20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king’s house.

Jehoash Reigns in Judah

21 4 qJehoash5 was seven years old when he began to reign.

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash1 began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 Nevertheless, rthe high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.

Jehoash Repairs the Temple

4 Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things sthat is brought into the house of the Lord, the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and tthe money that a man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord, 5 let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.” 6 But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house. 7 Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your donors, but hand it over for the repair of the house.” 8 So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.

9 Then Jehoiada the priest took ua chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the Lord. And the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. 10 And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest came up and they bagged and counted vthe money that was found in the house of the Lord. 11 Then they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord. And they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of the Lord, 12 and wto the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the Lord, and for any outlay for the repairs of the house. 13 xBut there were not made for the house of the Lord ybasins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, 14 for that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the Lord with it. 15 And zthey did not ask for an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly. 16 The money from athe guilt offerings and the money from the bsin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord; cit belonged to the priests.

17 At that time dHazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face eto go up against Jerusalem, 18 Jehoash king of Judah ftook all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, gand his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.

The Death of Joash

19 Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 hHis servants arose and made a conspiracy iand struck down Joash in the house of jMillo, on the way that goes down to Silla. 21 It was kJozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of kShomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, land Amaziah his son reigned in his place.