Let the priests take … let them repair …: This verse continues the direct quotation of what Joash says to the priests. If the direct quotation is kept in translation, it will be unnatural in most languages to refer to the priests in the third person as in Revised Standard Version. In many languages second person plural imperatives should be used; for example, “you must take … you must repair….” On the other hand, if the model of indirect speech found in Good News Translation is followed, the third person references will be perfectly acceptable.
His acquaintance translates a single Hebrew word to which the third person singular suffix his is attached. It is not certain what the root of this word is. The root may be nakar, which means “to be familiar,” or it may be makar, which means “to sell.” Translations that are based on the root nakar include his acquaintance (Revised Standard Version; similarly La Bible Pléiade), “the one who belongs to his people” (Nouvelle Bible Segond), and “people of their acquaintance” (New Jerusalem Bible). With the vowel points that the Masoretic Text gives to this word, a translation such as his acquaintance is most likely correct. Translations based on the root makar include “his income” (Hobbs), “his own funds” (New English Bible), and “your own money” (Contemporary English Version), but these translations all require a change in the vowel points from those in the text.
Other interpreters connect this Hebrew term with the Assyrian word makaru, which means “to give abundantly.” This is the basis for the renderings “his benefactor” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “the donors” (New Revised Standard Version). Another approach has been to understand this term in light of texts in the Ugaritic language from Ras Shamra in which persons referred to as mkrm are included in a list of temple personnel. The function of these persons is not stated, but they may have been business assessors who helped determine the costs of sacrificial animals and offerings. Based on this understanding, Holladay gives the meaning “trader.” Other translations based on the parallel word in Ugaritic include “a treasurer” (Revised English Bible; similarly New International Version) and “his business assessor” (Gray).
Certainly the last solution, which understands this word to be a technical term referring to a Temple official in charge of business and finance, fits the context well. But translations such as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, which are based on the assumption that the root is nakar, also make good sense.
The house wherever any need of repairs is discovered is literally “the breach of the house wherever there is found there a breach.” The meaning may be specifically “the cracks in walls of the Temple everywhere they are found” (so Nouvelle Bible Segond). The passive construction here may be made active by saying something like “[repair] the Temple whenever someone discovers that it requires repair” or “… whenever a person sees that something is broken [in the Temple].”
Verses 4-5 are one long complex sentence in Hebrew. Recognizing that there are different interpretations of the parts of this sentence, the following NET Bible rendering may serve as a model for some languages:
• Jehoash said to the priests, “I place at your disposal all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the LORD’s temple, including the silver collected from the census tax, the silver received from those who have made vows, and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the LORD’s temple. The priests should receive the silver they need from the treasurers and repair any damage to the temple they detect.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .