Finally the work King Solomon did for the Temple of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought in everything his father David had set apart for the Temple—silver, gold, and other articles. He put everything in the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord.
Nebuchadnezzar took all the treasures from the Temple of the Lord and from the palace. He cut up all the gold objects Solomon king of Israel had made for the Temple of the Lord. This happened as the Lord had said it would.
King David gave them to the Lord, along with the silver and gold he had taken from these nations: Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.
Shelomith and his relatives were responsible for everything that had been collected for the Temple by King David, by the heads of families, by the commanders of a thousand men and of a hundred men, and by other army commanders.
Shelomith and his relatives took care of all the holy items. Some had been given by Samuel the seer, Saul son of Kish, Abner son of Ner, and Joab son of Zeruiah.
David gave him plans for everything he had in mind: the courtyards around the Lord’s Temple and all the rooms around it, the Temple treasuries, and the treasuries of the holy items used in the Temple.
Then the priests brought in the offerings and the things given to the Lord and one-tenth of everything the people had given. Conaniah the Levite was in charge of these things, and his brother Shimei was second to him.
A priest of Aaron’s family must be with the Levites when they receive the tenth of the people’s crops. The Levites must bring a tenth of all they receive to the Temple of our God to put in the storerooms of the treasury.
So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the storeroom in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from that room. Then he let those rags down with some ropes to Jeremiah in the well.
“Get up and beat them, people of Jerusalem. I will make you strong as if you had horns of iron and hoofs of bronze. You will beat many nations into small pieces and give their wealth to the Lord, their treasure to the Lord of all the earth.”
Then they brought the captives, the animals, and the goods back to Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the Israelites. Their camp was on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River, across from Jericho.
The leading priests picked up the silver coins in the Temple and said, “Our law does not allow us to keep this money with the Temple money, because it has paid for a man’s death.”
The Israelites have sinned; they have broken the agreement I commanded them to obey. They took some of the things I commanded them to destroy. They have stolen and lied and have taken those things for themselves.