8. The priests agreed that they wouldn't collect any more money from the people. They also agreed that they wouldn't repair the temple themselves.
9. The priest Jehoiada got a chest. He drilled a hole in its lid. He placed the chest beside the altar for burnt offerings. The chest was on the right side as people enter the Lord's temple. Some priests guarded the entrance. They put into the chest all of the money the people brought to the temple.
10. From time to time there was a large amount of money in the chest. When that happened, the royal secretary and the high priest came. They counted the money the people had brought to the temple. Then they put it into bags.
11. After they added it all up, they used it to repair the temple. They gave it to the men who had been put in charge of the work. Those men used it to pay the workers. They paid the builders and those who worked with wood.
12. They paid those who cut stones and those who laid them. They bought lumber and blocks of stone. So they used the money to repair the Lord's temple. They also paid all of the other costs to make the temple like new again.
13. The money the people brought to the Lord's temple wasn't used to make silver bowls. It wasn't used for wick cutters, sprinkling bowls or trumpets. And it wasn't used for any other articles made out of gold or silver.
14. Instead, it was paid to the workers. They used it to repair the temple.
15. The royal secretary and the high priest didn't require a report from those who were in charge of the work. That's because they were completely honest. They always paid the workers.
16. Money was received from those who brought guilt offerings and sin offerings. But it wasn't taken to the Lord's temple. It belonged to the priests.
17. About that time Hazael, the king of Aram, went up and attacked Gath. Then he captured it. After that, he turned back to attack Jerusalem.
18. But Joash, the king of Judah, didn't want to go to war. So he got all of the sacred objects. They had been set apart to the Lord by the kings who had ruled over Judah before him. They were Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah. Joash got the gifts he himself had set apart. He got all of the gold that was among the temple treasures. He also got all of the gold from the royal palace. He sent all of those things to Hazael, the king of Aram. Then Hazael pulled his army back from Jerusalem.