The Reign of Joash of Judah

241 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 Beer-sheba. 2 And Joash did what was right in the sight of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begot sons and daughters. 4 And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to renew the house of Jehovah. 5 And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah and collect of all Israel money for the repair of the house of your God from year to year, and ye shall hasten the matter. But the Levites hastened it not. 6 And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tribute of Moses the servant of Jehovah [laid upon] the congregation of Israel, for the tent of the testimony? 7 For the wicked Athaliah [and] her sons had devastated the house of God; and also all the hallowed things of the house of Jehovah had they employed for the Baals. 8 And the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it at the gate of the house of Jehovah without, 9 and they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring to Jehovah the tribute of Moses the servant of God [laid upon] Israel in the wilderness. 10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in and cast into the chest, until they had finished. 11 And it came to pass at the time the chest was brought for the king's control by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and high priest's officer came, and they emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. 12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of Jehovah, and they hired masons and carpenters to renew the house of Jehovah, and also such as wrought in iron and bronze, to repair the house of Jehovah. 13 So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in its state, and strengthened it. 14 And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; and they made of it vessels for the house of Jehovah, utensils to minister, and with which to offer up, and cups, and utensils of gold and silver. And they offered up burnt-offerings in the house of Jehovah continually all the days of Jehoiada.

15 And Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was a hundred and thirty years old when he died. 16 And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house. 17 And after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to the king; then the king hearkened to them. 18 And they forsook the house of Jehovah the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. 19 And he sent prophets among them to bring them again to Jehovah, and they testified against them; but they would not give ear. 20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood up above the people and said unto them, Thus saith God: Wherefore do ye transgress the commandments of Jehovah? And ye cannot prosper; for ye have forsaken Jehovah, and he hath forsaken you. 21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the court of the house of Jehovah. 22 And king Joash remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, Jehovah see and require [it]! 23 And it came to pass at the end of the year [that] the army of Syria came up against him; and they entered into Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them to the king at Damascus. 24 Truly with a small company of men came the army of the Syrians, but Jehovah delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Jehovah the God of their fathers; and they executed judgment upon Joash. 25 And when they had departed from him (for they left him in great diseases), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings. 26 And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess. 27 And as to his sons, and the greatness of the burdens [laid] upon him, and the building of the house of God, behold, they are written in the treatise of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

Solomon Builds the House of the LORD

31 And Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where he appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build on the second of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. 3 And this was Solomon's foundation for the construction of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 4 And the porch which was in front was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, and the height was a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold. 5 And the greater house he boarded with cypress-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set on it palm-trees and chains. 6 And he overlaid the house with precious stones for beauty; and the gold was gold of Parvaim. 7 And he covered the house, the beams, the threshold, and its walls, and its doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls. 8 And he made the house of the most holy place, the length of which was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; and he covered it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. 9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he covered the upper chambers with gold.

10 And in the house of the most holy place he made two cherubim of image work, and they overlaid them with gold. 11 And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: one wing of five cubits touched the wall of the house; and the other wing of five cubits touched the wing of the other cherub. 12 And the wing of the other cherub of five cubits touched the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits joining the wing of the other cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim spread forth were twenty cubits; and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house. 14 And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and byssus, and made cherubim upon it.

The Two Pillars

15 And before the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits long; and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. 16 And he made chains [as] in the oracle, and he put them on the top of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. 17 And he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and he called the name of that on the right Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.