Bible Strands
2 Kings 12:16
The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The chronicler records King Joash’s temple restoration policy while detailing how sanctuary funds were managed during his reign. The narrative places this financial directive immediately after affirming the integrity of the workmen and immediately before reporting Hazael’s military campaign against Gath and Jerusalem.
The words — The text highlights כֶ֤סֶף (ke.sef), meaning “money,” and אָשָׁם (a.sham), meaning “guilt offering,” to specify which funds were diverted. These terms clarify that the financial value attached to specific sacrificial rites was treated as distinct from the general temple treasury.
The thread — This allocation rule aligns with Leviticus 7:7, which states that guilt and sin offerings belong to the priest who makes atonement, and Leviticus 5:15, which governs restitution for unauthorized use of holy things. The practice shows how temple administration applied Levitical law to collected funds rather than leaving them in the general sanctuary account.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to observe how sacred resources were categorized and distributed according to established ritual law. It asks the reader to recognize that financial accountability in worship follows prescribed boundaries rather than administrative convenience.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the Lord: it was the priests’.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 7:7 The guilt offering is like the sin offering; the same law applies to both. It belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it.
- Leviticus 5:15 “If someone acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s holy things, he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram from the flock, of proper value in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering.
- Leviticus 4:24 He is to lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the LORD. It is a sin offering.
- Leviticus 4:29 He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering.
- Numbers 5:8 But if the man has no relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest along with the ram of atonement, by which the atonement is made for him.
- Numbers 18:8 Then the LORD said to Aaron, “Behold, I have put you in charge of My offerings. As for all the sacred offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.
- Numbers 18:19 All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD for you and your offspring.”
- Hosea 4:8 They feed on the sins of My people and set their hearts on iniquity.