1. Joash began to rule during Jehu’s seventh year as king of Israel. Joash ruled 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Zibiah of Beersheba.
2. For as long as he lived, Joash did what the Lord considered right. He did what Jehoiada the priest taught him.
3. But he did not destroy the high places. The people still made sacrifices and burned incense at those places of worship.
4-5. Joash said to the priests, “There is much money in the Lord’S Temple. People have given things to the Temple and have paid the Temple tax when they were counted. And they have given money simply because they wanted to. You priests should take that money and repair the Lord’S Temple. Each priest should use the money he gets from the people he serves. He should use that money to repair the damage to the Temple.”
6. 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 them, “Why haven’t you repaired the Temple? Stop taking money from the people you serve. 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 he 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 were there to guard this doorway. They took the money that people brought for the Lord’S temple and put it into this box.
10. Whenever the king’s secretary and the high priest saw that the box was full, they counted all the money that had been given for the Lord’S Temple and put it in bags.
11. Then they paid the men who were in charge of the work on the Lord’S Temple. They paid the carpenters and other builders who worked on the Lord’S Temple.
12. They used that money to pay the stoneworkers and stonecutters, and they used it to buy timber, cut stone, and everything else to repair the Lord’S Temple.