2 Kings 12–19

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

Jehoash Repairs the Temple

⁴Jehoash 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, ⁵let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.” ⁶But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house. ⁷Therefore 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.” ⁸So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.

⁹Then 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. ¹⁰And 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. ¹¹Then 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, ¹²and ^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. ^13xBut 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, ¹⁴for that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the Lord with it. ¹⁵And ^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. ¹⁶The 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.

¹⁷At 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, ¹⁸Jehoash 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

¹⁹Now 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? ^20hHis servants arose and made a conspiracy ⁱand struck down Joash in the house of ^jMillo, on the way that goes down to Silla. ²¹It 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.

Jehoahaz Reigns in Israel

13In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. ²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^mwhich he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. ³ⁿAnd the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of ^oHazael king of Syria and into the hand of ^pBen-hadad the son of Hazael. ⁴Then Jehoahaz ^qsought the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him, ^rfor he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. ⁵(Therefore the Lord gave Israel ^sa savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the people of Israel lived in ^ttheir homes as formerly. ⁶Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, ^mwhich he made Israel to sin, but walked¹ in them; and ^uthe Asherah also remained in Samaria.) ⁷For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust ^vat threshing. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁹So Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Joash his son reigned in his place.

Jehoash Reigns in Israel

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash² the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. ¹¹He also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^mwhich he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them. ^12wNow the rest of the acts of Joash ^xand all that he did, ^yand the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹³So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

The Death of Elisha

¹⁴Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, ^z“My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. ¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in ^aAphek until you have made an end of them.” ¹⁸And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. ¹⁹Then ^bthe man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only ^cthree times.”

²⁰So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of ^dMoabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. ²¹And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

^22eNow Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ^23fBut the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, ^gand he turned toward them, ^hbecause of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

²⁴When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. ²⁵Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities ⁱthat he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. ^jThree times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

Amaziah Reigns in Judah

14^kIn the ^lsecond year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, ^mAmaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. ³And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. ⁴ⁿBut the high places were not removed; ^othe people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. ⁵And as soon as the royal power was ^pfirmly in his hand, he struck down his servants ^qwho had struck down the king his father. ⁶But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, ^r“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

^7sHe struck down ten thousand Edomites in ^tthe Valley of Salt and took ^uSela by storm, and called it ^vJoktheel, which is its name to this day.

^8wThen Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash¹ the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, ^xlet us look one another in the face.” ⁹And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, ^y“A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. ¹⁰You have indeed ^zstruck down Edom, ^aand your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

¹¹But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah ^xfaced one another in battle at ^bBeth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹²And Judah was defeated by Israel, ^cand every man fled to his home. ¹³And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits,² from ^dthe Ephraim Gate to ^ethe…