II Chronicles 24 Joash Gives Orders to Repair the Temple

 II Chronicles 24

Joash Gives Orders to Repair the Temple

1 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

3 And Jehoiada took him two wives, and he begat sons and daughters.

4 And it came to pass after this, that it came into the heart of Joash to renovate the house of the Lord.

5 Then he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out into the cities of Judah, and gather money from all Israel, to repair the house of your God year by year; and ye shall hasten the matter. But the Levites did not hasten.

6 Then the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why didn’t you inquire among the Levites to bring the offering of Moses the servant of the Lord and the congregation of Israel from Judah and Jerusalem to the tent of meeting?

7 Because Athaliah was wicked, her sons destroyed the house of God and even all the holy things in the house of the Lord they used for Baalim.”

8 Then the king gave orders, and they made an ark and set it outside at the door of the house of the Lord.

9 And it was announced throughout Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the Lord the offering that Moses the servant of the Lord had imposed on Israel in the wilderness.

10 Then all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and they brought the offering and threw it into the ark until the work was finished. 

11 And it came to pass, when they brought in the ark by the hand of the Levites, according to the king's commandment, and saw that there was much money, that the king's scribe and the deputy of the high priest came and emptied the ark, and took it up, and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. 

12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the service of the house of the LORD; and they hired masons and carpenters to renew the house of the LORD, and also smiths and metalworkers to repair the house of the LORD. 

13 And those who had charge of the work increased the repair of the work by their hands, and they restored the house of God to its former state, and strengthened it. 

14 And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and made with it vessels for the house of the LORD, vessels for ministering and for offerings, and perfumers, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings continually in the house of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada.

15 And Jehoiada grew old, and died full of days; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.

16 And they buried him in the City of David with the kings, because he had done well in Israel, and toward God and his house.