2 Kings 12:5

let the priests takeit to them, every man of his acquaintance This passage is not easy to understand until we have along with it the parallel account of the Chronicler. From 2 Kings it might be thought that the words of Jehoash applied to such offerings as were made at the temple, and then it would be hard to see what a man's acquaintance had to do with such a matter. But in 2 Chron. we are told that the priests and Levites were bidden -to go out unto the cities of Judah and gather money of all Israel". Hence nothing was more natural than that each should go among the people to whom he was best known, and from whom he would have the best chance of bringing in contributions, Josephus (Ant.IX. 8. 2) says that -the priests and Levites were sent through the whole land to ask half a shekel from each personfor the furniture and restoration of the temple, which had been broken up by Joram and Athaliah and her sons".

and let them repair R.V. they shall repair. This is literal, and besides allows more emphasis to be given to the pronoun -they" which is placed in a marked position in the original. The wish of the king at first was to put the whole matter in the charge of the priest.

the breaches The Hebrew word, which the LXX. merely transliterates (βεδέκ), is found only in this chapter and 2 Kings 22:5, and in Ezekiel 27:9; Ezekiel 27:27. But in the last-mentioned passages it is used of the filling up, by calking, of the chinks in ships. Hence we can understand the sort of decay which had taken place in the temple-building. Years of neglect had allowed the walls to crumble and crack and similar damages to arise in every part.