2 Chronicles 24:5

5 And he gathered together [the] priests and deacons, and said to them, Go ye out to the cities of Judah, and gather ye of all Israel money, to the repairing of the temple of your Lord God, by each year; and do ye this thing hastily. Certainly the deacons did this thing negligently. (And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go ye out to the cities of Judah, and gather ye the yearly money, or the annual tax, from all Israel, for repairs to the Temple of the Lord your God; and do ye this thing promptly, or quickly. But the Levites did it negligently, or slovenly.)

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 And Joash took two wives, of which he begat sons and daughters. (And Jehoiada chose two wives for him, of whom Joash begat sons and daughters.)

4 And after which things it pleased Joash to repair the house of the Lord.

5 And he gathered together [the] priests and deacons, and said to them, Go ye out to the cities of Judah, and gather ye of all Israel money, to the repairing of the temple of your Lord God, by each year; and do ye this thing hastily. Certainly the deacons did this thing negligently. (And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go ye out to the cities of Judah, and gather ye the yearly money, or the annual tax, from all Israel, for repairs to the Temple of the Lord your God; and do ye this thing promptly, or quickly. But the Levites did it negligently, or slovenly.)

6 And the king called Jehoiada, the prince of priests, and said to him, Why was it not (a) charge to thee, to constrain the deacons to bring in (the) money of Judah and of Jerusalem, which money was ordained of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that all the multitude of Israel should bring it into the tabernacle of witnessing? (And so the king called the High Priest Jehoiada, and said to him, Why was it not a concern for thee, to require the Levites to bring in the money, that is, the tax, from Judah and Jerusalem, which was ordained by Moses, the Lord's servant, that all the multitude of Israel should bring to the Tabernacle of the Witnessing?)

7 For the wicked woman Athaliah, and her sons, destroyed the house of God; and of all the things, that were hallowed to the temple of the Lord, they adorned the temple of Baalim. (For that wicked woman Athaliah, and her sons, destroyed the House of God; and they adorned the temple of the Baalim, with all the things that were dedicated to the Temple of the Lord.)