2 Kings 12–19

Jehoash Repairs the Temple

12In the seventh year of Jehu, ^aJehoash ¹became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ²Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days in which ^bJehoiada the priest instructed him. ³But ^cthe ²high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁴And Jehoash said to the priests, ^d“All the money of the dedicated gifts that are brought into the house of the Lord—each man’s ^ecensus ³money, each man’s ^fassessment money—and all the money that ⁴a man ^gpurposes in his heart to bring into the house of the Lord, ⁵let the priests take it themselves, each from his constituency; and let them repair the ⁵damages of the temple, wherever any dilapidation is found.”

⁶Now it was so, by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, ^hthat the priests had not repaired the damages of the temple. ⁷ⁱSo King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damages of the temple? Now therefore, do not take more money from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple.” ⁸And the priests agreed that they would neither receive more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the temple.

⁹Then Jehoiada the priest took ^ja chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the Lord; and the priests who ⁶kept the door put ^kthere all the money brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁰So it was, whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s ^lscribe ⁷and the high priest came up and ⁸put it in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord. ¹¹Then they gave the money, which had been apportioned, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they ⁹paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the Lord, ¹²and to masons and stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone, to ^mrepair the damage of the house of the Lord, and for all that was paid out to repair the temple. ¹³However ⁿthere were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling-bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁴But they gave that to the workmen, and they repaired the house of the Lord with it. ¹⁵Moreover ^othey did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to workmen, for they dealt faithfully. ^16pThe money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord. ^qIt belonged to the priests.

Hazael Threatens Jerusalem

^17rHazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; then ^sHazael set his face to ¹go up to Jerusalem. ¹⁸And Jehoash king of Judah ^ttook all the sacred things that his fathers, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things, and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and in the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

Death of Joash

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of ²Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁰And ^uhis servants arose and formed a conspiracy, and killed Joash in the house of ³the Millo, which goes down to Silla. ²¹For ⁴Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of ⁵Shomer, his servants, struck him. So he died, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then ^vAmaziah his son reigned in his place.

Jehoahaz Reigns in Israel

13In the twenty-third year of ^aJoash ¹the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, ^bJehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. ²And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the ^csins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not ²depart from them.

³Then ^dthe anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of ^eHazael king of Syria, and into the hand of ^fBen-Hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. ⁴So Jehoahaz ^gpleaded with the Lord, and the Lord listened to him; for ^hHe saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. ⁵ⁱThen the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before. ⁶Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin, but walked in them; ^jand the ³wooden image also remained in Samaria. ⁷For He left of the army of Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers; for the king of Syria had destroyed them ^kand made them ^llike the dust at threshing.

⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁹So Jehoahaz ⁴rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Then ⁵Joash his son reigned in his place.

Jehoash Reigns in Israel

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, ⁶Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. ¹¹And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but walked in them.

^12mNow the rest of the acts of Joash, ⁿall that he did, and ^ohis 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 ^prested ⁷with his fathers. Then Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Death of Elisha

¹⁴Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, ^qthe chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”

¹⁵And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at ^rAphek till you have destroyed them.” ¹⁸Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. ¹⁹And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! ^sBut now you will strike Syria only three times.”

²⁰Then Elisha ⁸died, and they buried him. And the ^traiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. ²¹So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

Israel Recaptures Cities from Syria

²²And ^uHazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³But the Lord was ^vgracious to them, had compassion on them, and ^wregarded them, ^xbecause of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence.

²⁴Now Hazael king of Syria died. Then Ben-Hadad his son reigned in his place. ²⁵And ⁹Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz recaptured from the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. ^yThree times Joash defeated him and recaptured the cities of Israel.

Amaziah Reigns in Judah

14In ^athe second year of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, 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. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ³And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David; he did everything ^cas his father Joash had done. ^4dHowever the ¹high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁵Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, that he executed his servants ^ewho had murdered his father the king. ⁶But the children of the murderers he did not execute, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, saying, ^f“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”

^7gHe killed ten thousand Edomites in ^hthe Valley of Salt, and took ²Sela by war, ⁱand called its name Joktheel to this day.

^8jThen Amaziah sent messengers to ³Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another in battle.” ⁹And Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, ^k“The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the ^lcedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife’; and a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. ¹⁰You have indeed defeated Edom, and ^myour heart has ⁴lifted you up. Glory in that, and stay at home; for why should you meddle with trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”

¹¹But Amaziah would not heed. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went out; so he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at ⁿBeth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹²And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled 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 he went to Jerusalem, and…