2 Kings 12:4-12

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Repairing the Temple

⁴ Then^(A) Joash said to the priests, “All the dedicated money brought to the Lord’s temple,^(B) census money,^(C) money from vows,^(D) and all money voluntarily given^(E) for the Lord’s temple, ⁵ each priest is to take from his assessor^[a] and repair whatever damage to the temple is found.”^[b](F)

⁶ But by the twenty-third year^(G) of the reign of King Joash, the priests had not repaired the damage^[c] to the temple.^{(H) 7} So King Joash called Jehoiada^(I) the priest and the other priests and said, “Why haven’t you repaired the temple’s damage? Since you haven’t, don’t take any money from your assessors; instead, hand it over for the repair of the temple.” ⁸ So the priests agreed they would not take money from the people and they would not repair the temple’s damage.

⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest,^(J) bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the Lord’s temple; in it the priests who guarded the threshold put all the money brought into the Lord’s temple.^{(K) 10} Whenever they saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king’s secretary^(L) and the high priest would go to the Lord’s temple and count the money found there and tie it up in bags.^{(M) 11} Then they would put the counted money into the hands of those doing the work—those who oversaw the Lord’s temple. They in turn would pay it out to those working on the Lord’s temple—the carpenters, the builders, ¹² the masons, and the stonecutters—and would use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the damage to the Lord’s temple^(N) and for all spending for temple repairs.