Bible Reading Plan – Day 161

₁After waiting six years Jehoiada the priest decided that it was time to take action. He made a pact with five army officers: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri. ₂They travelled to all the cities of Judah and brought back with them to Jerusalem the Levites and all the heads of the clans.

₃They all gathered in the Temple, and there they made a covenant with Joash, the king's son. Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the son of the late king! He is now to be king, as the LORD promised that King David's descendants would be. ₄This is what we will do. When the priests and Levites come on duty on the Sabbath, one third of them will guard the temple gates, ₅another third will guard the royal palace, and the rest will be stationed at the Foundation Gate. All the people will assemble in the temple courtyard. ₆No one is to enter the temple buildings except the priests and the Levites who are on duty. They may enter, because they are consecrated, but the rest of the people must obey the LORD's instructions and stay outside. ₇The Levites are to stand guard round the king, with their swords drawn, and are to stay with the king wherever he goes. Anyone who tries to enter the Temple is to be killed.”

₈The Levites and the people of Judah carried out Jehoiada's instructions. The men were not dismissed when they went off duty on the Sabbath, so the commanders had available both those coming on duty and those going off. ₉Jehoiada gave the officers the spears and shields that had belonged to King David and had been kept in the Temple. ₁₀He stationed the men with drawn swords all round the front of the Temple, to protect the king. ₁₁Then Jehoiada led Joash out, placed the crown on his head, and gave him a copy of the laws governing kingship. And so he was made king. Jehoiada the priest and his sons anointed Joash, and everyone shouted, “Long live the king!”

₁₂Athaliah heard the people cheering for the king, so she hurried to the Temple, where the crowd had gathered. ₁₃There she saw the new king at the temple entrance, standing by the column reserved for kings and surrounded by the army officers and the trumpeters. All the people were shouting joyfully and blowing trumpets, and the temple musicians with their instruments were leading the celebration. She tore her clothes in distress and shouted, “Treason! Treason!”

₁₄Jehoiada did not want Athaliah killed in the temple area, so he called out the army officers and said, “Take her out between the rows of guards, and kill anyone who tries to rescue her.”

₁₅They seized her, took her to the palace, and there at the Horse Gate they killed her.

₁₆The priest Jehoiada got King Joash and the people to join him in making a covenant that they would be the LORD's people. ₁₇Then they all went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols there and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. ₁₈Jehoiada put the priests and Levites in charge of the work of the Temple. They were to carry out the duties assigned to them by King David and to burn the sacrifices offered to the LORD in accordance with the Law of Moses. They were also in charge of the music and the celebrations. ₁₉Jehoiada also put guards on duty at the temple gates to keep out anyone who was ritually unclean.

₂₀The army officers, the leading citizens, the officials, and all the rest of the people joined Jehoiada in a procession that brought the king from the Temple to the palace. They entered by the main gate, and the king took his place on the throne. ₂₁All the people were filled with happiness, and the city was quiet, now that Athaliah had been killed.

₁Joash became king of Judah at the age of seven, and he ruled in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother was Zibiah from the city of Beersheba. ₂He did what was pleasing to the LORD as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. ₃Jehoiada chose two wives for King Joash, and they bore him sons and daughters.

₄After he had been king for a while, Joash decided to have the Temple repaired. ₅He ordered the priests and the Levites to go to the cities of Judah and collect from all the people enough money to make the annual repairs on the Temple. He told them to act promptly, but the Levites delayed, ₆so he called in Jehoiada, their leader, and demanded, “Why haven't you seen to it that the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax which Moses, the servant of the LORD, required the people to pay for support of the Tent of the LORD's presence?”

₇(The followers of Athaliah, that corrupt woman, had damaged the Temple and had used many of the sacred objects in the worship of Baal.)

₈The king ordered the Levites to make a box for contributions and to place it at the temple gate. ₉They sent word throughout Jerusalem and Judah for everyone to bring to the LORD the tax which Moses, God's servant, had first collected in the wilderness. ₁₀This pleased the people and their leaders, and they brought their tax money and filled the box with it. ₁₁Every day the Levites would take the box to the royal official who was in charge of it. Whenever it was full, the royal secretary and the High Priest's representative would take the money out and return the box to its place. And so they collected a large sum of money.

₁₂The king and Jehoiada would give the money to those who were in charge of repairing the Temple, and they hired stonemasons, carpenters, and metalworkers to make the repairs. ₁₃All of them worked hard, and they restored the Temple to its original condition, as solid as ever. ₁₄When the repairs were finished, the remaining gold and silver was given to the king and Jehoiada, who used it to have bowls and other utensils made for the Temple.

As long as Jehoiada was alive, sacrifices were offered regularly at the Temple. ₁₅After reaching the very old age of 130, he died. ₁₆They buried him in the royal tombs in David's City in recognition of the service he had done for the people of Israel, for God, and for the Temple.

₁₇But once Jehoiada was dead, the leaders of Judah persuaded King Joash to listen to them instead. ₁₈So the people stopped worshipping in the Temple of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and began to worship idols and the images of the goddess Asherah. Their guilt for these sins brought the LORD's anger on Judah and Jerusalem. ₁₉The LORD sent prophets to warn them to return to him, but the people refused to listen. ₂₀Then the Spirit of God took control of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood where the people could see him and called out, “The LORD God asks why you have disobeyed his commands and are bringing disaster on yourselves! You abandoned him, so he has abandoned you!” ₂₁King Joash joined in a conspiracy against Zechariah, and on the king's orders the people stoned Zechariah in the temple courtyard. ₂₂The king forgot about the loyal service that Zechariah's father Jehoiada had given him, and he had Zechariah killed. As Zechariah was dying, he called out, “May the LORD see what you are doing and punish you!”

₂₃When autumn came that year, the Syrian army attacked Judah and Jerusalem, killed all the leaders, and took large amounts of loot back to Damascus. ₂₄The Syrian army was small, but the LORD let them defeat a much larger Judean army because the people had abandoned him, the LORD God of their ancestors. In this way King Joash was punished. ₂₅He was severely wounded, and when the enemy withdrew, two of his officials plotted against him and killed him in his bed to avenge the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. He was buried in David's City, but not in the royal tombs. ₂₆(Those who plotted against him were Zabad, the son of an Ammonite woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of a Moabite woman named Shimrith). ₂₇The Commentary on the Book of Kings contains the stories of the sons of Joash, the prophecies spoken against him, and the record of how he rebuilt the Temple. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

₄Joash called the priests and ordered them to save up the money paid in connection with the sacrifices in the Temple, both the dues paid for the regular sacrifices and the money given as freewill gifts. ₅Each priest was to be responsible for the money brought by those he served, and the money was to be used to repair the Temple, as needed.

₆But by the 23rd year of Joash's reign the priests still had not made any repairs to the Temple. ₇So he called in Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren't you repairing the Temple? From now on you are not to keep the money you receive; you must hand it over, so that the repairs can be made.” ₈The priests agreed to this and also agreed not to make the repairs in the Temple.

₉Then Jehoiada took a box, made a hole in the lid, and placed the box by the altar, on the right side as one enters the Temple. The priests on duty at the entrance put in the box all the money given by the worshippers. ₁₀Whenever there was a large amount of money in the box, the royal secretary and the High Priest would come, melt down the silver, and weigh it. ₁₁After recording the exact amount, they would hand the silver over to the men in charge of the work in the Temple, and these would pay the carpenters, the builders, ₁₂the masons, and the stonecutters, buy the timber and the stones used in the repairs, and pay all other necessary expenses. ₁₃None of the money, however, was used to pay for making silver cups, bowls, trumpets, or tools for tending the lamps, or any other article of silver or of gold. ₁₄It was all used to pay the workers and to buy the materials used in the repairs. ₁₅The men in charge of the work were thoroughly honest, so there was no need to require them to account for the funds. ₁₆The money given for the repayment offerings and for the offerings for sin was not deposited in the box; it belonged to the priests.

₁₇At that time King Hazael of Syria attacked the city of Gath and conquered it; then he decided to attack Jerusalem. ₁₈King Joash of Judah took all the offerings that his predecessors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah had dedicated to the LORD, added to them his own offerings and all the gold in the treasuries of the Temple and the palace, and sent them all as a gift to King Hazael, who then led his army away from Jerusalem.

₁₉Everything else that King Joash did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

_20-21King Joash's officials plotted against him, and two of them, Jozacar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, killed him at the house built on the land that was filled in on the east side of Jerusalem, on the road that goes down to Silla. Joash was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Amaziah succeeded him as king.