2 Kings 12
Jehoash reigned in Jerusalem for 40 years, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest taught him, but he did not remove the high places where the people continued to offer sacrifices. King Jehoash ordered the priests to use the money brought into the temple to repair it, but they failed to do so, leading him to take the money collection out of their hands and place it in a chest near the altar. The money was then used to pay the workers who repaired the temple. When Hazael, the king of Syria, threatened Jerusalem, Jehoash sent him all the sanctified things and silver from the temple and palace to appease him. Jehoash was eventually assassinated by his servants Jozacar and Jehozabad, and his son Amaziah succeeded him.
1In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash reigned. And he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebiah from Beersheba2And Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord, during all the days that Jehoiada, the priest, taught him3Yet still he did not take away the high places. For the people were still immolating, and burning incense, in the high places4And Jehoash said to the priests: "All of the money for the holy things, which has been brought into the temple of the Lord from those who pass by, which is offered for the price of a soul, and which they bring into the temple of the Lord willingly, from their own free heart5let the priests, according to their ranks, take and use it in order to repair the surfaces of the house, wherever they see anything in need of repair.6And yet, even until the twenty-third year of king Jehoash, the priests did not repair the surfaces of the temple7And king Jehoash called the high priest, Jehoiada, and the priests, saying to them: "Why have you not repaired the surfaces of the temple? Therefore, you may no longer accept money according to your ranks. Instead, return it in order that the temple may be repaired.8And so the priests were prohibited from accepting any more money from the people to repair the surfaces of the house9And the high priest, Jehoiada, took a certain chest, and he opened a hole in the top, and he placed it beside the altar, to the right of those who were entering the house of the Lord. And the priests who kept the doors put all the money in it which was being brought into the temple of the Lord10And when they saw that there was a great amount of money in the chest, the scribe of the king and the high priest went up and poured it out. And they counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord11And they gave it out, by number and measure, to the hands of those who were over the masons of the house of the Lord. And they weighed it out to the carpenters and masons, to those who were working in the house of the Lor12and restoring the surfaces, and to those who were cutting stones, and buying timber and stones to be cut, so that the repairs to the house of the Lord might be finished: for all that was needed toward the expenses in order to strengthen the house13Yet truly, from the same money, they did not make for the temple of the Lord water pitchers, or small hooks, or censers, or trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver, from the money that was brought into the temple of the Lord14For it was given to those who were doing the work, so that the temple of the Lord might be repaired15And they did not ration the money to the men who received it in order to distribute it to the artisans. Instead, they bestowed it with faith16Yet truly, the money for offenses and the money for sins, they did not bring into the temple of the Lord, since it was for the priests17Then Hazael, the king of Syria, ascended and fought against Gath, and he captured it. And he directed his face, so that he might ascend against Jerusalem18For this reason, Jehoash, the king of Judah, took all the sanctified things, which Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, the kings of Judah, had consecrated and which he himself had offered, and all the silver that could be found in the treasuries of the temple of the Lord and in the palace of the king, and he sent it to Hazael, the king of Syria. And so he withdrew from Jerusalem19Now the rest of the words of Jehoash, and all that he did, have these not been written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah20Then his servants rose up and conspired among themselves. And they struck down Jehoash, at the house of Millo, on the descent of Silla21For Jozacar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Amaziah, his son, reigned in his place
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