Joash was seven years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was Zibiah. She was from Beersheba.Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Joash lived that way as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive.Jehoiada chose two wives for Joash. They had sons and daughters by Joash.Some time later Joash decided to make the Lord’ s temple look like new again.He called together the priests and Levites. He said to them,“ Go to the towns of Judah. Collect the money that the nation of Israel owes every year. Use it to repair the temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites didn’t do it right away.So the king sent for Jehoiada the chief priest. He said to him,“ Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in the tax from Judah and Jerusalem? It was set up by the Lord’ s servant Moses and the whole community of Israel. It was used for the tent where the tablets of the covenant law were kept.”The children of that evil woman Athaliah had broken into God’s temple. They had used even its sacred objects for the gods that were named Baal.King Joash commanded that a wooden chest be made. It was placed outside near the gate of the Lord’ s temple.Then a message went out in Judah and Jerusalem. It said that the people should bring the tax to the Lord. God’s servant Moses had required Israel to pay that tax when they were in the desert.All the officials and people gladly brought their money. They dropped it into the chest until it was full.The chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials. Every time the officials saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, it was emptied out. The royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest came and emptied it. Then they carried it back to its place. They did it regularly. They collected a great amount of money.The king and Jehoiada gave it to the people who were doing the work on the Lord’ s temple. They hired people who could lay the stones and people who could work with wood. They also hired people who could work with iron and bronze. They hired all of them to repair the temple.The men in charge of the work did their best. The repairs went very well under them. They rebuilt God’s temple. They did it in keeping with its original plans. They made the temple even stronger.So they finished the work. Then they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada. It was used to pay for the objects that were made for the Lord’ s temple. The objects were used for serving at the temple. They were also used for the burnt offerings. The objects included dishes and other things made out of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were sacrificed continually at the Lord’ s temple.
Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 31 years. His mother’s name was Jedidah. She was the daughter of Adaiah. She was from Bozkath.
In the seventh year Jehoiada the priest sent for the commanders of military groups of 100 men. They were the commanders over the Carites and the guards. Jehoiada had them brought to him at the temple of the Lord. He made a covenant with them. At the temple he made them promise to be faithful. Then he showed them the king’s son.
