2 Chronicles 24:5

5 He called together the priests and Levites. He said to them, "Go to the towns of Judah. Collect the money that the nation of Israel owes every year. Use it to repair the temple of your God. Do it now." But the Levites didn't do it right away.

2 Chronicles 24:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 24:5

And he gathered together the priests and Levites
To communicate his mind unto, and give them a charge and instructions:

and said unto them, go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all
Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year;
what money he means is more fully explained in ( 2 Kings 12:4 ) ,

and see that ye haste the matter;
for he was very desirous of having this work accomplished, it being the place of the worship of God, and where he had been preserved in his infancy:

howbeit, the Levites hastened it not;
either through negligence in them to collect the money, or backwardness in the people to give, or through an avaricious disposition to keep it, and use it for themselves; so that it was delayed unto the twenty third year of his reign ( 2 Kings 12:6 ) .

2 Chronicles 24:5 In-Context

3 Jehoiada chose two wives for Joash. They had sons and daughters by Joash.

4 Some time later Joash decided to make the LORD's temple look like new again.

5 He called together the priests and Levites. He said to them, "Go to the towns of Judah. Collect the money that the nation of Israel owes every year. Use it to repair the temple of your God. Do it now." But the Levites didn't do it right away.

6 So the king sent for the chief priest Jehoiada. He said to him, "Why haven't you required the Levites to bring in the tax from Judah and Jerusalem? It was set up by the LORD's servant Moses and the whole community of Israel. It was used for the tent where the tablets of the covenant were kept."

7 The children of that evil woman Athaliah had broken into God's temple. They had used even its sacred objects for the gods that were named after Baal.