CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
2 Kings 12
Chapter 12 of 25
Chapter Overview
What happens in 2 Kings 12
Young King Joash does what is right as long as the priest Jehoiada guides him. He organizes the repair of the temple, but later bribes the king of Syria with temple treasures to avoid an attack. He is eventually murdered by his own servants.
Scripture
2 Kings 12
Joash Repairs the Temple
Study note
Joash ruled for forty years in Jerusalem and did what was right in God's sight as long as the priest Jehoiada was alive to instruct him. However, the high places of worship were not removed. Joash ordered the priests to use the money collected at the temple for repairs. After twenty-three years the priests still had not made the repairs, so Joash changed the system. Jehoiada made a collection chest with a hole in the lid and placed it beside the altar. The money was counted and given directly to the workers who repaired the temple. The workers were so honest that no one checked up on them.
1 Joash began his reign in the seventh year of Jehu. He ruled from Jerusalem for forty years. His mother was Zibiah, from Beersheba. In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.
2 Joash did what pleased the Lord the entire time the priest Jehoiada was alive to guide him. And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
3 But the hilltop worship places were never taken down. People kept offering sacrifices and burning incense there. But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
4 Joash told the priests, "Gather all the money that comes into the Lord's temple. This means the census tax, the vow money, and free gifts." And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the LORD, even the money of every one that passeth the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the LORD,
5 "Each priest should collect money from the people he works with. Then he should use it to fix whatever damage they find in the temple." Let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found.
6 But by the twenty-third year of Joash's reign, the priests still had not made any repairs to the temple. But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.
7 King Joash summoned the priest Jehoiada along with the other priests and confronted them: "Why have you not fixed the temple? From now on, stop keeping the money for yourselves and turn it over for temple repairs." Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said unto them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the house? now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house.
8 The priests agreed. They would no longer collect money from people or handle the repairs themselves. And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house.
9 Instead, Jehoiada took a chest, cut a slot in its lid, and placed it next to the altar on the right side as people entered the Lord's temple. The priests on door duty dropped all donations into the chest. But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the LORD: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD.
10 The chest would grow full. Then the royal clerk and high priest counted the money. They put it in bags. And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the LORD.
11 They gave the bagged money to the managers in charge of the temple work. Those managers used it to pay the carpenters and builders working on the Lord's temple. And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the LORD: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought upon the house of the LORD,
12 as well as the stonemasons and stone cutters. They also purchased timber and cut stone for the repairs and covered all other costs. And to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the LORD, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.
13 None of the gift money was used for silver bowls, wick cutters, basins, or trumpets. No gold or silver items were made for the temple with it. Howbeit there were not made for the house of the LORD bowls of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the LORD:
14 Every bit of it went to the workers doing the actual repairs. But they gave that to the workmen, and repaired therewith the house of the LORD.
15 Nobody asked the men handling the money to keep detailed records. They could be fully trusted. Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully.
16 Money received from guilt offerings and sin offerings did not go to the temple fund. That money belonged to the priests. The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the LORD: it was the priests'.
Hazael Threatens Jerusalem
Study note
King Hazael of Syria attacked and captured the city of Gath, then turned toward Jerusalem. To save the city, Joash gathered all the sacred objects and gold from the temple and the palace treasury and sent it all to Hazael as a bribe. Hazael withdrew, but Joash's own servants later conspired against him and murdered him. His son Amaziah became the next king.
17 Around this time, King Hazael of Syria attacked and captured the city of Gath. He then turned his army toward Jerusalem. Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it: and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.
18 King Joash took all the holy objects set apart by his fathers. His fathers were Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah. He added his own gifts and all the palace and temple gold. He sent it all to King Hazael of Syria. Then Hazael pulled back from Jerusalem. And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and in the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem.
19 The rest of what Joash did is recorded in the official history of Judah's kings. And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
20 His own officials turned on him. They killed him at Beth-millo, on the road going down to Silla. And his servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and slew Joash in the house of Millo, which goeth down to Silla.
21 The officials Jozachar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer were the ones who struck him down. He was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, and his son Amaziah became the next king. For Jozachar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.
Key Themes
Themes in 2 Kings 12
The importance of spiritual mentors and guidesFaithful stewardship of God's house and resourcesThe danger of relying on human solutions instead of GodThe limits of faith that depends on another person
Apply This Today
Living 2 Kings 12
Joash did well only as long as Jehoiada guided him, suggesting his faith was borrowed rather than personal. A faith that depends entirely on someone else's influence will not survive when that person is gone. We must develop our own relationship with God so our faith can stand on its own.
Go Deeper
Study 2 Kings in Covenant Path
Read every chapter with study aids, bookmarks, and daily reading plans — free in the app.