1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah {tsivyah: gazelle}; she was from Beersheba {beersheba: southern town}.
2 And Jehoash did what was upright in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Moral Witness} all the days that Jehoiada the priest instructed {horahu: gave guidance} him.
3 However, the high places {ha-bamot: unauthorized altars} were not removed; the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense {maktirim: cultic smoke} at the high places.
4 And Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the silver of the sacred offerings that is brought into the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Sovereign}, including the valuation {erkho: assessed price} of each person and any additional silver that a man’s heart prompts him to bring.”
5 Let each priest take from his acquaintance, and they will repair the breach {bedek: structural damage} of the house {habayit: temple structure} for all that is found there.
6 Now it happened in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the breaches {bedek: structural damage} of the house {habayit: temple structure}.
7 Then King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, “Why are you not repairing the breach {bedek: structural opening} of the house? Now do not take silver from your companions {makareikhem: temple donors}, but give it for the repair of the house.”
8 And the priests {kohen: religious mediators} agreed not to take money from the people nor to repair the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctuary Owner}.
9 And Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side of the entrance to the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctuary Sovereign}. There the priests who guarded the entrance placed all the silver {kēseph: monetary offering} that had been brought into the house of the LORD.
10 And it happened, when they saw that there was much money in the chest {aron: secured container}, that the scribe of the king and the high priest would come up, tie it up in bags, and count the money that was found in the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctuary Owner}.
11 And they gave the silver that had been weighed out into the hands of those doing the work, the supervisors {mefukadim: authorized overseers} of the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Possessor}, and they brought it out to the woodworkers and to the builders working on the house of the LORD.
12 And for the masons and for the stonecutters, and to purchase timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches {bedeḵ: structural damage} of the house {bayit: Temple structure}, and for all that might be needed for the repairs of the house.
13 But silver basins {sipporot: shallow ritual containers}, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, and any vessels of gold or silver were not made for the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctuary Sovereign} from the money that was brought into the house of the LORD.
14 For they gave it to the workmen {leosei: project laborers} of the work, and with it they repaired the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctuary Master}.
15 And they did not require an accounting {yechashbu: formal reckoning} from the men who gave the money into their hand to those doing the work, for they were acting with faithfulness {emunah: reliability}.
16 The payment of the guilt offering and the payment of the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Owner}; it belonged to the priests {kohanim: sacred ministers}.
17 Then Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath {gat: Philistine fortress}, and captured it. And Hazael set his face {panav: determined purpose} to go up against Jerusalem.
18 And Jehoash, king of Judah, took all the sacred gifts which Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers and the kings of Judah had dedicated, with his own offerings and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctuary Sovereign} and the house of the king, and he sent them to Hazael, king of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem {Yerushalayim: Holy City}.
19 And the remainder {veyeter: remnant summary} of the acts of Jehoash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book {sefer: written record} of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
20 And his servants {avadav: royal attendants} arose and conspired and struck him down in the house of Millo {millo: fortified support}, on the way down to Silla.
21 And Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his servants {avadav: royal agents}, struck him, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the City {ir: fortified capital} of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.