2 Kings 12:4

4 Joash said to the priests, "Take all the money brought as offerings to the Temple of the Lord. This includes the money each person owes in taxes and the money each person promises or brings freely to the Lord.

2 Kings 12:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 12:4

And Jehoash said to the priests
Being minded or having it in his heart, to repair the temple, as in ( 2 Chronicles 24:4 ) not only because it was the sanctuary of the Lord, though that chiefly, but because it had been a sanctuary to him, where he was hid and preserved six years:

all the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of
the Lord:
or rather, "that is to be brought", as De Dieu, and others render it, the particulars of which follow:

even the money of everyone that passeth [the account];
or that passeth among them that are numbered, as in ( Exodus 30:13 Exodus 30:14 ) that were upwards of twenty years of age, and bound to pay the half shekel for the ransom of their souls; and it is called the collection or burden Moses laid on them in the wilderness, ( 2 Chronicles 24:6 2 Chronicles 24:9 )

the money that every man is set at;
the price the priest set upon or estimated a man at, or whomsoever that belonged to him, that he devoted to the Lord, which by the law he was bound to pay for his redemption, and, till that was done, he and they were not his, but the Lord's, of which see ( Leviticus 27:1-8 ) and here the Targum calls it, the money of the redemption of souls, which is the gift of a man for the redemption of his soul:

and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the
house of the Lord:
vows and freewill offerings made of their own accord.

2 Kings 12:4 In-Context

2 Joash did what the Lord said was right as long as Jehoiada the priest taught him.
3 But the places where gods were worshiped were not removed; the people still made sacrifices and burned incense there.
4 Joash said to the priests, "Take all the money brought as offerings to the Temple of the Lord. This includes the money each person owes in taxes and the money each person promises or brings freely to the Lord.
5 Each priest will take the money from the people he serves. Then the priests must repair any damage they find in the Temple."
6 But by the twenty-third year Joash was king, the priests still had not repaired the Temple.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.