Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. And Joash did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And afterward it was in the heart of Joash to repair the house of Yahweh. So he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, "Go out to the cities of Judah and gather money from all Israel to strengthen the house of your God sufficiently year by year. Now you yourselves must hasten to the matter." But the Levites did not act with haste. So the king called Jehoiada the chief, and he said to him, "Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax of Moses, the servant of Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?" For the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had used all the holy vessels of the house of Yahweh for the Baals.

Then the king commanded, and they made a chest and put it at the gate outside the house of Yahweh. And they issued a proclamation in Judah and in Jerusalem to bring to Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God had levied upon Israel in the wilderness. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and they brought their tax and threw it into the chest until it was finished. And whenever he brought the chest to the appointee of the king by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money in it, then the secretary of the king and the officer of the chief priest came and emptied the chest, then they took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance. And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh. And they hired stonemasons and skilled craftsmen to restore the house of Yahweh, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh. So those doing the work labored, and the restoration for the work made progress under their hand. And they restored the house of God to its position and strengthened it. And when they had finished, they brought the remainder of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and they used it for objects for the house of Yahweh, objects for the service and the burnt offerings, dishes, and objects of gold and silver. And they were offering burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh regularly, all the days of Jehoiada.

And Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old at his death. And they buried him in the city of David with the kings, for he did good in Israel and with respect to God and his house.

Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. And they forsook the house of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors and served the Asherahs and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem on account of this guilt. But he sent prophets among them, to bring them back to Yahweh. And they testified against them, and they did not obey.

Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, "Thus says God: ‘Why are you transgressing the commandments of Yahweh so that you will not succeed? For you have forsaken Yahweh, so he will forsake you.’" Then they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh. So King Joash did not remember the loyal love that Jehoiada had shown to him, and he killed his son. And as he was dying he said, "May Yahweh see and avenge!"

And it happened at the turn of the year that the army of Aram went up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the commanders of the people from among the people, and all the war booty they sent to the king of Damascus. Though the army of Aram came with few men, Yahweh gave a very large army into their hand, for they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. And they inflicted punishment on Joash.

And when they were going away from him (for they had left him with many wounds), his servants conspired against him on account of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest. So they killed him on his bed and he died. And they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him at the burial sites of the kings. Now these are the ones who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath, the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith, the Moabite. And as for his sons, the many oracles against him, and his repair of the foundation of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the scroll of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned in Jerusalem forty years, and the name of his mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. Jehoash did right in the eyes of Yahweh all of his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Only the high places were not removed; the people were still making sacrifices and offering incense on the high places.

Jehoash said to the priests, "All of the money for the sacred things that is brought to the temple of Yahweh, the money taxed at its proper value for each person and all of the money which comes upon the heart of a man to bring to the temple of Yahweh, let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurers, and let them repair the breach of the temple for every place where damage is found."

It happened in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the damage in the temple. So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, "Why are you not repairing the damage in the temple? Now, you shall not take money from your treasurers for the damage in the temple. You must provide it." So the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the damage to the temple.

Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple. It happened that when they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of Yahweh. They placed the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid it to the skilled craftsmen of wood and to the builders working on the temple of Yahweh and to the masons and the stonecutters, to buy timber and stones for hewing, in order to repair the damage of the temple of Yahweh, and for all who went to the temple to repair it. Only, for the temple of Yahweh, there were not any silver basins, snuffers, bowls for drinking wine, trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver from the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh. For they gave that to all the workers, and they repaired the temple of Yahweh with it. They did not have to settle accounts with the men into whose hands they placed the money to give to the workers, for they were dealing honestly. The money of the guilt offering and the money of the sin offering was not brought into the temple of Yahweh, but were each for the priests.

At that time, Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it; then Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem. Jehoash king of Judah took all of the holy objects that Jehoshaphat, Joram, and Ahaziah his ancestors, the kings of Judah, had devoted, and all his holy objects and all of the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of Yahweh, and in the palace of the king, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, so that he went up from Jerusalem.

Now the remainder of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? Then his servants arose and conspired and killed Joash in the house of the Millo as he was going down toward Silla. Jozabad the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him and killed him, so they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David. Then Amaziah his son became king in his place.

A psalm of Asaph.

And getting into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own town. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher, and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Have courage, child, your sins are forgiven." And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming!" And knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, pick up your stretcher and go to your home." And he got up and went to his home. But when the crowds saw this, they were afraid and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

And as Jesus was going away from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth and said to him, "Follow me!" And he stood up and followed him.

And it happened as he was dining in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners were coming and dining with Jesus and his disciples. And when they saw it, the Pharisees began to say to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" And when he heard it, he said, "Those who are healthy do not have need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what it means, "I want mercy and not sacrifice." For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Then the disciples of John approached him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "The bridegroom’s attendants are not able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. But no one puts a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old garment, for its patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear becomes worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wineskins burst and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are destroyed. But they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved."

As he was saying these things to them, behold, one of the rulers came and knelt down before him, saying, "My daughter has just now died, but come, place your hand on her and she will live!" And Jesus and his disciples got up and followed him. And behold, a woman who had been suffering with a hemorrhage twelve years approached from behind and touched the edge of his cloak, for she said to herself, "If only I touch his cloak I will be healed." But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, "Have courage, daughter! Your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that hour.

And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd, he said, "Go away, because the girl is not dead, but is sleeping." And they ridiculed him. But when the crowd had been sent out, he entered and took her hand, and the girl got up. And this report went out into that whole region.

And as Jesus was going away from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" And when he came into the house, the blind men approached him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be done for you." And their eyes were opened, and Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one finds out." But they went out and spread the report about him in that whole region.

Now as they were going away, behold, they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak. And after the demon had been expelled, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were astonished, saying, "This has never been seen before in Israel!" But the Pharisees were saying, "By the ruler of demons he expels the demons!"

And Jesus was going around all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness. And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were weary and dejected, like sheep that did not have a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest that he send out workers into his harvest."