2 Chronicles 24:1-14

The Reign of Joash of Judah

24¹ Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he was ruling for forty years in Jerusalem: his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. ² And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest was living. ³ And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ⁴ Now after this Joash had a desire to put the house of the Lord into good order again; ⁵ And getting together the priests and Levites, he said to them, Go out into the towns of Judah year by year, and get from all Israel money to keep the house of your God in good condition; and see that this is done without loss of time. The Levites, however, were slow in doing so. ⁶ Then the king sent for Jehoiada, the chief priest, and said to him, Why have you not given the Levites orders that the tax fixed by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and by the meeting of Israel, for the Tent of witness, is to be got in from Judah and Jerusalem and handed over? ⁷ For the house of the Lord had been broken up by Athaliah, that evil woman, and her sons; and all its holy things they had given to the Baals. ⁸ So at the king's order they made a chest and put it outside the doorway of the house of the Lord. ⁹ And an order was sent out through all Judah and Jerusalem that payment was to be made to the Lord of the tax which Moses, the servant of God, had put on Israel in the waste land. ¹⁰ And all the chiefs and all the people came gladly and put their money into the chest, till they had all given. ¹¹ So when the chest was taken to the king's servants by the Levites, and they saw that there was much money in it, the king's scribe and the chief priest's servant took the money out, and put the chest back in its place. They did this day by day, and got together a great amount of money. ¹² Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who were responsible for getting the work done on the Lord's house, and with it they got wall-builders and woodworkers and metal-workers to put the house of the Lord in good order again. ¹³ So the workmen did their work, making good what was damaged and building up the house of God till it was strong and beautiful again. ¹⁴ And when the work was done, they took the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and it was used for making the vessels for the house of the Lord, all the vessels needed for the offerings, the spoons and the vessels of gold and silver. And as long as Jehoiada was living, the regular burned offerings were offered in the house of the Lord.