2 Kings 12 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Joash began to rule during Jehu’s seventh year as king of Israel. Joash ruled 40 years in Jerusalem. Joash’s mother was named Zibiah of Beersheba.

² Joash did the things that the Lord said were right. Joash obeyed the Lord all his life. He did the things that Jehoiada the priest taught him.

^3-5 But he did not destroy the high places. [142] The people still made sacrifices and burned incense at those places of worship.

⁶ {But the priests did not do the repairs.} In the 23rd year that Joash was king, the priests {still} had not repaired the temple.

⁷ So king Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and the {other} priests. Joash said to Jehoiada and the other priests, “Why haven’t you repaired the temple? Stop taking money from the people you serve. Stop using that money. That money must be used to repair the temple.”

⁸ The priests agreed to stop taking money from the people. But they also decided not to repair the temple.

⁹ So Jehoiada the priest took a box and made a hole in the top of it. Then Jehoiada put the box on the south side of the altar. This box was by the door where people came into the Lord’s temple. Some of the priests guarded the doorway [143] of the temple. Those priests took the money people had given to the Lord, and they put that money into that box.

¹⁰ {Then the people began putting money into that box when they went to the temple.} Whenever the king’s secretary and the high priest saw there was a lot of money in the box, they came and took the money from the box. They put the money in bags and counted it.

¹¹ Then they paid the workers that worked on the Lord’s temple. They paid the carpenters and other builders that worked on the Lord’s temple.

^12-14 They used that money to pay the stoneworkers and stonecutters. And they used that money to buy timber, cut stone, and everything else to repair the Lord’s temple.

¹⁵ No one counted all the money or forced the workers to tell what happened to the money. Why? Because those workers could be trusted!

¹⁶ People gave money at the times they offered guilt offerings and sin offerings. But that money was not used to pay the workers. That money belonged to the priests.

¹⁷ Hazael was the king of Aram. Hazael went to fight against the city of Gath. Hazael defeated Gath. Then he made plans to go fight against Jerusalem.

¹⁸ Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah had been kings of Judah. They were Joash’s [145] ancestors. [146] They had given many things to the Lord. Those things were kept in the temple. Joash also had given many things to the Lord. Joash took all those and all the gold that was in the temple and in his house. Then Joash sent all those expensive things to Hazael king of Aram.

¹⁹ All the great things that Joash did are written in the book The History of the Kings of Judah.

²⁰ Joash’s officers made plans against him. They killed Joash at the house of Millo on the road that goes down to Silla.

²¹ Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer were Joash’s officers. Those men killed Joash.