2 Kings 12–19

Jehoash/Joash Reigns in Judah

12In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned in Jerusalem forty years, and the name of his mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. ²Jehoash did right in the eyes of Yahweh all of his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³Only the high places were not removed; the people were still making sacrifices and offering incense on the high places.

Temple Repairs Planned

⁴Jehoash said to the priests, “All of the money for the sacred things that is brought to the temple of Yahweh, the money taxed at its proper value for each person^a and all of the money that comes upon the heart of a man to bring to the temple of Yahweh, ⁵let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurers, and let them repair the breach of the temple for every place where damage is found.”

⁶It happened in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the damage in the temple. ⁷So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, “Why are you not repairing the damage in the temple? Now, you shall not take money from your treasurers for the damage in the temple. You must provide it.” ⁸So the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the damage to the temple.

⁹Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple. ¹⁰It happened that when they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of Yahweh. ¹¹They placed the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid it to the skilled craftsmen of wood and to the builders working on the temple of Yahweh ¹²and to the masons and the stonecutters, to buy timber and stones for hewing, in order to repair the damage of the temple of Yahweh, and for all who went to the temple to repair it. ¹³Only, for the temple of Yahweh, there were not any silver basins, snuffers, bowls for drinking wine, trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver from the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh. ¹⁴For they gave that to all the workers, and they repaired the temple^b of Yahweh with it. ¹⁵They did not have to settle accounts with the men into whose hands they placed the money to give to the workers, for they were dealing honestly. ¹⁶The money of the guilt offering and the money of the sin offering was not brought into the temple^c of Yahweh, but were each for the priests.

Hazael Threatens Judah

¹⁷At that time, Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it; then Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem. ¹⁸Jehoash king of Judah took all of the holy objects that Jehoshaphat, Joram, and Ahaziah his ancestors,^d the kings of Judah, had devoted, and all his holy objects and all of the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of Yahweh, and in the palace of the king, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, so that he went up from Jerusalem.

¹⁹Now the remainder of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁰Then his servants arose and conspired and killed Joash in the house of the Millo as he was going down toward Silla. ²¹Jozabad^e the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him and killed him, so they buried him with his ancestors^f in the city of David. Then Amaziah his son became king in his place.

Jehoahaz and Jehoash in Israel

13In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, reigning seventeen years. ²But he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he went after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat with which he had caused Israel to sin, and he did not depart from it. ³So the anger of Yahweh was kindled^a against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael repeatedly.^{b 4}Then Jehoahaz entreated Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Aram oppressed them. ⁵Yahweh gave Israel a savior, and they went out from under the hand of Aram. So the Israelites^c lived in their tents as formerly.^{d 6}Yet they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam which he caused Israel to sin, but walked in it; and also, the pole of the Asherah worship was still standing in Samaria. ⁷For there was no army left over for Jehoahaz except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand infantry, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them as the dust at threshing. ⁸Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his powerful deeds, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? ⁹Then Jehoahaz slept with his ancestors^e and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoash his son became king in his place.

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, reigning sixteen years. ¹¹He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not depart from all of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin, but walked in it. ¹²The remainder of the acts of Joash^f and all that he did, his powerful deeds, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹³Then Joash slept with his ancestors,^g and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Elisha Passes Away

¹⁴Elisha became ill with the illness with which he would die, so Jehoash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, and said, “My father, my father; the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows,” so he took him a bow and arrows. ¹⁶He said to the king of Israel, “Lay your hand on the bow,”^h so he lay hold of it; then Elisha put his hand on the hands of the king. ¹⁷Then he said, “Open the window to the east,” so he opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. Then he said, “An arrow of victory for Yahweh, and an arrow of victory against Aram; you shall fight the Arameans in Aphek until finishing them.” ¹⁸Then he said, “Take the arrows,” so he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” so he struck three times and stopped. ¹⁹Yet the man of God became angry against him and said, “For striking five or six times, then you would have defeated Aram until finishing them, but now you will defeat Aram only three times.”

²⁰Elisha died and they buried him. Now the raiding parties of Moab came in the land in the spring.^{i 21}And it happened that they were burying a man; suddenly they saw the marauding band, so they threw the man in the grave of Elisha. As he went in, the man touched the bones of Elisha, and became alive and got up on his feet!

²²Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³But Yahweh had mercy on them and showed compassion to them and turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them nor cast them from his presence up to now.

²⁴When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-Hadad became king in his place. ²⁵Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz returned and took the cities from the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael that he had taken from the hand of Jehoahaz his father in the war. Three times Jehoash defeated him and recovered the towns of Israel.

Amaziah Reigns in Judah; Jeroboam II in Israel

14In the second year of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Jehoash king of Judah began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old^a when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem. ³He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, only not as David his ancestor;^b as all that Jehoash his father had done, he did. ⁴Only the high places were not removed; the people were still sacrificing and offering incense on the high places.

⁵It happened that when the kingdom was firmly in his hand, he killed his servants who had killed his father the king. ⁶But the sons of the killers he did not kill, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses which Yahweh had commanded, saying, “Fathers should not be killed because of children, and children should not be killed because of fathers; but a man should die because of his own sin.” ⁷He also killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and he seized Sela in the battle, and he called its name Jokteel, until this day.

⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, “Come let us meet face-to-face.”^{c 9}So Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah, saying, “The thornbush which is in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife,’ but an animal of the field which is in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush. ¹⁰You have indeed defeated Edom and your heart is lifted up; enjoy the honor and stay home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you fall and Judah with you?”

¹¹But Amaziah would not listen, so Jehoash king of Israel went up and they met face-to-face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-Shemesh which belongs to Judah. ¹²Judah was defeated before Israel and they fled, each to his tent. ¹³Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-Shemesh. Then they came to Jerusalem, and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim up to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits! ¹⁴He also took all of the gold and silver…