2 Kings 12:7

7 So King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, "Why aren't you repairing the damage of the Temple? Don't take any more money from the people you serve, but hand over the money for the repair of the Temple."

2 Kings 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 12:7

Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other
priests
The common priests, Jehoiada being high priest:

and said unto them, why repair ye not the breaches of the house?
in which they appeared to him very dilatory; the reason might be, the people were not forward to pay in their money, and they might not choose to begin the repairs until they had got it all in, or at least what was sufficient to carry them through them:

now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance;
suspecting that what they had received they kept for their own use:

but deliver it for the breaches of the house;
into other hands for that use, and so dismissed them at once from collecting the money, and being concerned in the repairs of the temple.

2 Kings 12:7 In-Context

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.

7 So King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, "Why aren't you repairing the damage of the Temple? Don't take any more money from the people you serve, but hand over the money for the repair of the Temple."

8 The priests agreed not to take any more money from the people and not to repair the Temple themselves.

9 Jehoiada the priest took a box and made a hole in the top of it. Then he put it by the altar, on the right side as the people came into the Temple of the Lord. The priests guarding the doorway put all the money brought to the Temple of the Lord into the box.