2 Chronicles 24

¹Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

²And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

³Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴Some time later, Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD.

⁵So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the house of your God. Do it quickly.” The Levites, however, did not make haste.

⁶So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?”

⁷For the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had even used the sacred objects of the house of the LORD for the Baals.

⁸At the king’s command a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the house of the LORD.

⁹And a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they were to bring to the LORD the tax imposed by Moses the servant of God on Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰All the officers and all the people rejoiced and brought their contributions, and they dropped them in the chest until it was full.

¹¹Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal scribe and the officer of the high priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance.