The priests should receive the silver they need from the treasurers and repair any damage to the temple they discover.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">By the twenty-third year of King Jehoash&#8217;s reign the priests had still not repaired the damage to the temple.

The priests agreed<n id="1" /> not to collect silver from the people and relieved themselves of personal responsibility for the temple repairs.<n id="2" />p>

He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests,<n id="1" /> clothed in sackcloth, with this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

<p class="bodytext">He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined<n id="1" /> the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba.<n id="2" /> He tore down the high place of the goat idols<n id="3" /> situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.

<p class="bodytext">Jehoash said to the priests, &#8220;I place at your disposal<n id="1" /> all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, including the silver collected from the census tax,<n id="2" /> the silver received from those who have made vows,<n id="3" /> and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">Jehoiada the priest took a chest and drilled a hole in its lid. He placed it on the right side of the altar near the entrance of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. The priests who guarded the entrance would put into it all the silver brought to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.