⁵He 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.

⁶So 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.”

⁷The 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.

⁸King Joash commanded that a wooden chest be made. It was placed outside near the gate of the Lord’s temple. ⁹Then a message went out in Judah and Jerusalem. It said that the people should bring the tax to the Lord. God’s servant Moses had required Israel to pay that tax when they were in the desert.

¹⁰All of the officials and people gladly brought their money. They dropped it into the chest until it was full.

¹¹The chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials. Every time the officials saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, it was emptied out. The royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest came and emptied it. Then they carried it back to its place. They did it regularly. They collected a great amount of money.

¹²The king and Jehoiada gave it to the men who were doing the work on the Lord’s temple. They hired people who could lay the stones and people who could work with wood. They also hired people who could work with iron and bronze. They hired all of them to repair the temple.

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