5. Joash called the priests and the Levites together. He said to them, “Go out to the towns of Judah and gather the money all the Israelites pay every year. Use that money to rebuild your God’s Temple. Hurry and do this.” But the Levites didn’t hurry.
6. So King Joash called Jehoiada the leading priest. The king said, “Jehoiada, why haven’t you made the Levites bring in the tax money from Judah and Jerusalem? Moses, the Lord’S servant, and the Israelites used that tax money for the Tent of the Agreement.”
7. In the past, Athaliah’s sons broke into God’s Temple and used the holy things in the Lord’S Temple for their worship of the Baal gods. Athaliah was a very wicked woman.
8. King Joash gave a command for a box to be made and put outside the gate at the Lord’S Temple.
9. Then the Levites made an announcement in Judah and Jerusalem. They told the people to bring in the tax money for the Lord. That tax money is what Moses the servant of God had required the Israelites to give while they were in the desert.
10. All the leaders and the people were happy. They brought their money and put it in the box. They continued giving until the box was full.
11. Then the Levites would take the box to the king’s officials. They saw that the box was full of money. The king’s secretary and the leading priest’s officer came and took the money out of the box. Then they took the box back to its place again. They did this often and gathered much money.
12. Then King Joash and Jehoiada gave the money to the people who worked on the Lord’S Temple. And the people who worked on the Lord’S Temple hired skilled woodcarvers and carpenters to rebuild the Lord’S Temple. They also hired workers who knew how to work with iron and bronze to rebuild the Lord’S Temple.
13. The men who supervised the work were very faithful. The work to rebuild the Temple was successful. They built God’s Temple the way it was before and they made it stronger.
14. When the workers finished, they brought the money that was left to King Joash and Jehoiada. They used that money to make things for the Lord’S Temple. These things were used for the service in the Temple and for offering burnt offerings. They also made bowls and other things from gold and silver. The priests offered burnt offerings in the Lord’S Temple every day while Jehoiada was alive.
15. Jehoiada became old. He had a very long life, and he died when he was 130 years old.
16. The people buried Jehoiada in the City of David where the kings are buried. The people buried Jehoiada there because in his life he did much good in Israel for God and for God’s Temple.