A reading from the book of Second Chronicles.

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was Zibiya of Beersheba, and Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada, the priest.

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

After this, Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord, and he gathered the priests and

the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money

to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly. But the Levites

did not act quickly, so the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, and see that you act quickly. But the Levites did not act quickly, so the king

summoned Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, why have you not required the Levites to bring

in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation

of Israel for the ten of testimony? For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken

into the house of God, and had also used all the dedicated things of the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God,

and had also used all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the bales. So the king

commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord,

and proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that

Moses, the servant of God, laid on Israel in the

wilderness, and all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought their tax and dropped it

into the chest until they had finished. And whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers

by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king's secretary and the officer

of the chief priest would come and empty the

chest and take it and return it to its place. Thus they did day after day and collected money

in abundance, and the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house

...