2 Chronicles 24:1–14

Judah’s King Joash

24Joash ^vwas seven years old when he became king and reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba. ²Throughout the time of Jehoiada the priest, Joash did what was right in the Lord’s sight. ^w3Jehoiada acquired two wives for him, and he was the father of sons and daughters.

Repairing the Temple

⁴Afterward, ^xJoash took it to heart to renovate ^ythe Lord’s temple. ⁵So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year, ^zand do it quickly.”

However, the Levites did not hurry. ⁶So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by the Lord’s servant Moses and the assembly of Israel for the tent ^aof the testimony? ⁷For the sons of that wicked Athaliah broke into the Lord’s temple and even used the sacred things of the Lord’s temple for the Baals.”

⁸At the king’s command a chest was made and placed outside the gate of the Lord’s temple. ⁹Then a proclamation ^bwas issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax God’s servant Moses imposed on Israel in the wilderness be brought to the Lord. ¹⁰All the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought the tax, and put it in the chest until it was full. ¹¹Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers, and when they saw that there was a large amount of money, the king’s secretary and the high priest’s deputy came and emptied the chest, picked it up, and returned it to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance. ¹²Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those in charge of the labor on the Lord’s temple, who were hiring stonecutters and carpenters to renovate the Lord’s temple, also blacksmiths and coppersmiths to repair the Lord’s temple. ^c

¹³The workmen did their work, and through them the repairs progressed. They restored God’s temple to its specifications and reinforced it. ¹⁴When they finished, they presented the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, who made articles for the Lord’s temple with it—articles for ministry and for making burnt offerings, and ladles ^dand articles of gold and silver. They regularly offered burnt offerings in the Lord’s temple throughout Jehoiada’s life.