2 Kings 12

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Joash was seven years old when he became king.	1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash reigned. And he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebiah from Beersheba.
2 Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother, who was named Zibiah, was from Beer-sheba.	2 And Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord, during all the days that Jehoiada, the priest, taught him.
3 Joash did what was pleasing to the LORD as long as he lived, because the priest Jehoiada guided him.	3 Yet still he did not take away the high places. For the people were still immolating, and burning incense, in the high places.
4 Still, the high places did not disappear; the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense there.	4 And 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 heart:
5 For the priests Joash made this rule: "All the funds for sacred purposes that are brought to the temple of the LORD--the census tax, personal redemption money, and whatever funds are freely brought to the temple of the LORD--	5 let 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.”
6 the priests may take for themselves, each from his own clients. However, they must make whatever repairs on the temple may prove necessary."	6 And yet, even until the twenty-third year of king Jehoash, the priests did not repair the surfaces of the temple.
7 Nevertheless, as late as the twenty-third year of the reign of King Joash, the priests had not made needed repairs on the temple.	7 And 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.”
8 Accordingly, King Joash summoned the priest Jehoiada and the other priests. "Why do you not repair the temple?" he asked them. "You must no longer take funds from your clients, but you shall turn them over for the repairs."	8 And so the priests were prohibited from accepting any more money from the people to repair the surfaces of the house.
9 So the priests agreed that they would neither take funds from the people nor make the repairs on the temple.	9 And 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 Lord.
10 The priest Jehoiada then took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the stele, on the right as one entered the temple of the LORD. The priests who guarded the entry would put into it all the funds that were brought to the temple of the LORD.	10 And 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 Lord.
11 When they noticed that there was a large amount of silver in the chest, the royal scribe (and the priest) would come up, and they would melt down all the funds that were in the temple of the LORD, and weigh them.	11 And 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 Lord
12 The amount thus realized they turned over to the master workmen in the temple of the LORD. They in turn would give it to the carpenters and builders working in the temple of the LORD,	12 and 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 house.
13 and to the lumbermen and stone cutters, and for the purchase of the wood and hewn stone used in repairing the breaches, and for any other expenses that were necessary to repair the temple.	13 Yet 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 Lord.
14 None of the funds brought to the temple of the LORD were used there to make silver cups, snuffers, basins, trumpets, or any gold or silver article.	14 For it was given to those who were doing the work, so that the temple of the Lord might be repaired.
15 Instead, they were given to the workmen, and with them they repaired the temple of the LORD.	15 And 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 faith.
16 Moreover, no reckoning was asked of the men who were provided with the funds to give to the workmen, because they held positions of trust.	16 Yet 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 priests.
17 The funds from guilt-offerings and from sin-offerings, however, were not brought to the temple of the LORD; they belonged to the priests.	17 Then 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 Jerusalem.
18 Then King Hazael of Aram mounted a siege against Gath. When he had taken it, Hazael decided to go on to attack Jerusalem.	18 For 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 Jerusalem.
19 But King Jehoash of Judah took all the dedicated offerings presented by his forebears, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, as well as his own, and all the gold there was in the treasuries of the temple and the palace, and sent them to King Hazael of Aram, who then led his forces away from Jerusalem.	19 Now 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 Judah?
20 The rest of the acts of Joash, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.	20 Then his servants rose up and conspired among themselves. And they struck down Jehoash, at the house of Millo, on the descent of Silla.
21 Certain of his officials entered into a plot against him and killed him at Beth-millo.	21 For 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.
22 Jozacar, son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of Shomer, were the officials who killed him. He was buried in his forefathers' City of David, and his son Amaziah succeeded him as king.