1. Joash became king of Judah in Jehu's seventh year as king of Israel, and he ruled forty years from Jerusalem. His mother Zibiah was from the town of Beersheba.
2. Jehoiada the priest taught Joash what was right, and so for the rest of his life Joash obeyed the Lord.
3. But even Joash did not destroy the local shrines, and they were still used as places for offering sacrifices.
4. One day, Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money that has been given to the Lord's temple, whether from taxes or gifts,
5. and use it to repair the temple. You priests can contribute your own money too.”
6. But the priests never started repairing the temple. So in the twenty-third year of his rule,