2 Kings 12–19

Chapter 12

Joash (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.

²Jehoash did right in the sight of the Lord 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.

The Temple to Be Repaired

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

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.”

⁶But it came about 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? Now therefore take no more money from your acquaintances, but pay it 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 the Lord; and the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money which was brought into the house of the Lord.

¹⁰When 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 the Lord.

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

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

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

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

¹⁵Moreover, ^athey did not require an accounting from the men into whose hand they gave the money to pay to those who did the work, for they dealt faithfully.

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

^18aJehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and ^bhis own sacred things and all the gold that was found among the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

Joash (Jehoash) Succeeded by Amaziah in 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?

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

²¹For 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

Kings of Israel: Jehoahaz and Jehoash

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.

²He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^awith which he made Israel sin; he did not turn from them.

^3aSo the anger of the Lord was kindled 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 favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him; for ^bHe saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them.

⁵The Lord gave Israel a ^1adeliverer, so that they ²escaped from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as formerly.

⁶Nevertheless they did not turn away 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 left to Jehoahaz of the ¹army not more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and 10,000 footmen, for the king of Aram had destroyed them 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.

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.

¹¹He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away 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.

Death of Elisha

¹⁴When Elisha ¹became sick with the illness of which he was to die, 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!”

¹⁵Elisha 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 laid his hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will ¹defeat the Arameans at ^aAphek until you have ²destroyed 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 ¹stopped.

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 ¹destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram ^bonly three times.”

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

²¹As they were burying a man, 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 ^arevived and stood up on his feet.

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

²³But the ^aLord 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 destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.

²⁴When Hazael king of Aram died, 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 ¹defeated 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.

³He did right in the sight of the Lord, 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 came about, as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand, that he ^1akilled his servants who had slain the king his father.

⁶But the sons of the ¹slayers he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the Law of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying, “^aThe fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but ^beach shall be put to death for his own sin.”

⁷He ¹killed of Edom in ^athe Valley of Salt 10,000 and took ^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.”

⁹Jehoash 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 in marriage.’ But there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trampled the thorn bush.

¹⁰“^aYou have indeed ¹defeated Edom, and ^byour heart has ²become proud. Enjoy your glory and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble 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.

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

¹³Then Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and tore down the wall of Jerusalem from ^athe Gate of Ephraim to ^bthe Corner Gate, 400 ¹cubits.

^14aHe took all the gold and…