Faithless Priests

⁴ Now it came about after this that Joash ^[a]decided ^(A)to restore the house of the Lord. ⁵ He gathered the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all ^(B)Israel to ^[b]repair the house of your God annually, and you shall ^[c]do the work quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. ⁶ So the king summoned Jehoiada, the chief priest, and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem ^(C)the ^[d]contribution of Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel, ^(D)for the tent of the testimony?” ⁷ For ^(E)the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God, and even ^[e]used the holy things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.

Temple Repaired

⁸ So the king commanded, and ^(F)they made a chest and set it outside by the gate of the house of the Lord. ^9 (G)And they made a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the Lord ^(H)the ^[f]contribution commanded by Moses the servant of God on Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ All the officers and all the people rejoiced, and they brought in their contribution and ^[g]dropped it into the chest until they had finished. ¹¹ It happened that whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officer by the Levites, and ^(I)they saw that the money was substantial, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer would come and empty the chest, and pick it up and return it to its place. They did this daily and collected a large amount of money. ¹² The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the Lord; and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. ¹³ So the workmen labored, and the repair work progressed in their hands, and they ^[h]restored the house of God according to its ^[i]specifications and strengthened it. ¹⁴ When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; and it was made into utensils for the house of the Lord, utensils for the service and the burnt offerings, and pans and utensils of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually, all the days of Jehoiada.