2 Kings 12:3-13

3 But the illegal places of worship weren't torn down. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at these worship sites.
4 Joash told the priests, "[Collect] all the holy contributions that are brought into the LORD's temple--the money each person is currently required to bring and all the money brought voluntarily to the LORD's temple.
5 Each of the priests should receive it from the donors and use it to make repairs on the temple where they are needed."
6 But by Joash's twenty-third year as king, the priests still had not repaired the temple.
7 So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, "Why aren't you repairing the damage in the temple? Don't take any more money from the donors [for your own use]. Instead, use it to make repairs on the temple."
8 The priests agreed neither to receive money from the people [for personal use] nor to be responsible for repairing the temple.
9 Then the priest Jehoiada took a box, drilled a hole in its lid, and put it at the right side of the altar as one comes into the LORD's temple. The priests who guarded the entrance put the money that was brought to the LORD's temple in the box.
10 Whenever they saw a lot of money in the box, the king's scribe and the chief priest would collect and count the money that was donated in the LORD's temple.
11 Then they would give the money that had been weighed to the men who had been appointed to work on the LORD's temple. They used it to pay the carpenters, builders,
12 masons, and stonecutters. They also used it to buy wood and cut stones to make repairs on the LORD's temple and to buy anything else that they needed for the temple repairs.
13 But no silver bowls, snuffers, dishes, trumpets, or any other gold and silver utensils were made for the LORD's temple with the money that was brought.

2 Kings 12:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 12

In this chapter some account is given of the reign of Jehoash, that it was long, and the beginning of it good, during the life of Jehoiada, 2Ki 12:1-3 how urgent he was to have the temple repaired, and what methods were taken for that purpose, 2Ki 12:4-16, how meanly, as well as impiously, he behaved, when the king of Syria was about to come up to Jerusalem and besiege it, 2Ki 12:17,18, and the chapter is closed with an account of his death, and the manner of it, 2Ki 12:19-21.

GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.