2Ch 34:12 | KD | STEP | They, together with the high priest, gave the money which had been received for the repair of the temple to the overseers of the building, who then gave it to workmen to procure building materials and for wages, just as was done when the temple was repaired by Joash, -13. The Keri ויּשׁבוּ is a correction resulting from a misinterpretation of the Keth. וישׁבי, “and of the dwellers in Jerusalem.” The enumeration, “from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim,” etc., is rhetorical. In ויּתּנוּ, , the verb of is again taken up: they handed it to the overseers of the building, and they to the workmen. הם עשׂה is a rare form of the plur. עשׁי; see on 1Ch 23:24. The overseers of the building (המפקדים - עשׁי) are the subject of the second ויּתּנוּ; and before the following עשׂי ל, which stands in 2 Kings, is to be supplied. בדוק is a denom. from בּדק, and signifies to repair what has been damaged. The statement of is made more definite by : they gave it, namely, to the workers in stone and wood, and to the builders to buy hewn stones and timber for couplings, and for the beams of the houses (לקרות, to provide with beams; הבּתים are the various buildings of the temple and its courts), which the kings of Judah had allowed to decay (השׁחית, not of designed destroying, but of ruining by neglect). - In we have still the remark that the people did the work with fidelity, and the money could consequently be given to them without reckoning, cf. 2Ki 22:7; and then the names of the building inspectors follow. Two Levites of the family of Merari, and two of the family of Kohath, were overseers; לנצּח, i.e., to lead in the building, to preside over it as upper overseers; and besides them, the Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song (cf. 1Ch 25:6.). As men who by their office and their art occupied a conspicuous place among the Levites, the oversight of the workmen in the temple was committed to them, not “that they might incite and cheer the workmen by music and song” (Berth.).

‏ 2 Chronicles 34:12

They, together with the high priest, gave the money which had been received for the repair of the temple to the overseers of the building, who then gave it to workmen to procure building materials and for wages, just as was done when the temple was repaired by Joash, 2Ch 24:11-13. The Keri ויּשׁבוּ is a correction resulting from a misinterpretation of the Keth. וישׁבי, “and of the dwellers in Jerusalem.” The enumeration, “from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim,” etc., is rhetorical. In ויּתּנוּ, 2Ch 34:10, the verb of 2Ch 34:9 is again taken up: they handed it to the overseers of the building, and they to the workmen. הם עשׂה is a rare form of the plur. עשׁי; see on 1Ch 23:24. The overseers of the building (המפקדים - עשׁי) are the subject of the second ויּתּנוּ; and before the following עשׂי ל, which stands in 2 Kings, is to be supplied. בדוק is a denom. from בּדק, and signifies to repair what has been damaged. The statement of 2Ch 34:10 is made more definite by 2Ch 34:11 : they gave it, namely, to the workers in stone and wood, and to the builders to buy hewn stones and timber for couplings, and for the beams of the houses (לקרות, to provide with beams; הבּתים are the various buildings of the temple and its courts), which the kings of Judah had allowed to decay (השׁחית, not of designed destroying, but of ruining by neglect). - In 2Ch 34:12 we have still the remark that the people did the work with fidelity, and the money could consequently be given to them without reckoning, cf. 2Ki 22:7; and then the names of the building inspectors follow. Two Levites of the family of Merari, and two of the family of Kohath, were overseers; לנצּח, i.e., to lead in the building, to preside over it as upper overseers; and besides them, the Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song (cf. 1Ch 25:6.). As men who by their office and their art occupied a conspicuous place among the Levites, the oversight of the workmen in the temple was committed to them, not “that they might incite and cheer the workmen by music and song” (Berth.).