2 Kings 12–19

CHAPTER 12

Jehoash Reigns over Judah

¹In the seventh year of Jehu, ^aJehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

²And Jehoash did what was right in the sight of Yahweh all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

³Only ^athe high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Jehoash Repairs the House of Yahweh

⁴Then Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the sacred things ^awhich is brought into the house of Yahweh, both ^bthe money for each ¹numbered man—the money from each person’s assessment in the census—and all the money which any man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of Yahweh,

⁵let the priests take it for themselves, each from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the ¹damages of the house wherever any damage may be found.”

⁶Now it happened that in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash ^athe priests had not repaired the damages of the house.

⁷Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests and said to them, “Why do you not repair the damages of the house? So now, take no more money from your acquaintances, but give it over to pay for the damages of the house.”

⁸So the priests agreed that they would take no more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the house.

⁹But ^aJehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid and put it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of Yahweh; and the priests who kept watch over the threshold put in it all the money which was brought into the house of Yahweh.

¹⁰Now it happened that when they saw that there was much money in the chest, ^athe king’s scribe and the high priest came up and tied it in bags and counted the money which was found in the house of Yahweh.

¹¹And they gave the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and they ¹paid it out to the craftsmen of wood and the builders who worked on the house of Yahweh;

¹²and ^ato the masons and the hewers of stone, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the damages to the house of Yahweh, and for all that ¹was laid out for the house to repair it.

¹³But ^athere were not made for the house of Yahweh ^bsilver cups, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver from the money which was brought into the house of Yahweh;

¹⁴for they gave that to those who did the work, and with it they repaired the house of Yahweh.

¹⁵Moreover, ^athey did not require an accounting from the men into whose hand they paid the money in order to pay those who did the work, for they were doing it faithfully.

¹⁶The ^amoney from the guilt offerings and ^bthe money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of Yahweh; ^cit was for the priests.

¹⁷Then ^aHazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it, and ^bHazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

^18aAnd Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had set apart as holy, and ^bhis own holy things and all the gold that was found among the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and of the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

Amaziah Reigns over Judah

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?

^20aAnd his servants arose and made a conspiracy and ^bstruck down Joash at ^cthe house of Millo as he was going down to Silla.

²¹Now Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of ^aShomer, his servants, struck him and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and ^bAmaziah his son became king in his place.

CHAPTER 13

Jehoahaz Reigns over Israel

¹In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel at Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years.

²And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^awith which he made Israel sin; he did not depart from them.

^3aSo the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of ^bHazael king of Aram, and into the hand of ^cBen-hadad the son of Hazael.

⁴Then ^aJehoahaz entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him; for ^bHe saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them.

⁵And Yahweh gave Israel a ^asavior, so that they came out from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as formerly.

⁶Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, ^awith which he made Israel sin, but walked in ¹them; and ^bthe Asherah also remained standing in Samaria.

⁷For he did not leave to Jehoahaz any people for the army except 50 horsemen and 10 chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers, for the king of Aram had caused them to perish and ^amade them like the dust at 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?

⁹And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son became king in his place.

Jehoash Reigns over Israel

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned sixteen years.

¹¹And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in ¹them.

^12aNow the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did and his 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 Elisha ¹became sick with the illness of which he was to die. So Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over ²him and said, “^aMy father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

¹⁵And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he ¹took a bow and arrows.

¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷And he said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “Yahweh’s arrow of salvation, even the arrow of salvation over Aram; for you will strike the Arameans at ^aAphek until you have consumed them.”

¹⁸Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stood still.

¹⁹So ^athe man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have consumed it. But now you shall strike Aram ^bonly three times.”

²⁰And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now ^athe marauding bands of the Moabites would enter into the land in the spring of the year.

²¹Now it happened that they were burying a man, and behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man ¹touched the bones of Elisha he ^abecame alive and stood up on his feet.

²²Now ^aHazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

²³But ^aYahweh was gracious to them and ^bhad compassion on them and turned to them because of ^cHis covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not bring them to ruin or cast them from His presence until now.

²⁴Then Hazael king of Aram died, and Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.

²⁵Then ^aJehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken in war from the hand of Jehoahaz his father. ^bThree times Joash struck him and recovered the cities of Israel.

CHAPTER 14

Amaziah Reigns over Judah

^1aIn the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, ^bAmaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king.

²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.

³And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done.

⁴Only ^athe high places were not taken away; ^bthe people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁵Now it happened as soon as the kingdom was strong in his hand, that he ^astruck down his servants who had struck down the king his father.

⁶But the sons of those who struck him down he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the Law of Moses, which Yahweh commanded, saying, “^aFathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor sons be put to death for their fathers; but ^beach shall be put to death for his own sin.”

⁷He struck down 10,000 of Edom in ^athe Valley of Salt and seized ^bSela by war and named it ^cJoktheel to this day.

^8aThen Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “^bCome, let us face each other.”

⁹And Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “^aThe thorn bush which was in Lebanon sent to the cedar which was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ But a beast of the field that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thorn bush.

¹⁰“^aYou have indeed struck down Edom, and ^byour heart has lifted you up. Enjoy your glory and stay at home; for why should you provoke calamity so that you, even you, would fall, and Judah with you?”

¹¹But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at ^aBeth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

¹²And Judah was ¹defeated by Israel, and ^athey fled each to his tent.

¹³Then Jehoash king of Israel seized…