2 Chronicles 34
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and
one years in Jerusalem.
2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways
of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek
after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge
Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven
images, and the molten images.
4 And they brake down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the
sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the
graven images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them,
and strewed it upon the graves [of them] that had sacrificed unto them.
5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and
Jerusalem.
6 And [so did he] in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto
Naphtali, in their ruins round about.
7 And he brake down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the graven images into
powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and
returned to Jerusalem.
8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the
house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the
city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Jehovah
his God.
9 And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was
brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold,
had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of
Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of
the house of Jehovah; and the workmen that wrought in the house of Jehovah gave
it to mend and repair the house:
11 even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone,
and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of
Judah had destroyed.
12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath
and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of
the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and [others of] the Levites, all
that were skilful with instruments of music.
13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and set forward all that did the
work in every manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and
officers, and porters.
14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of
Jehovah, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah [given] by
Moses.
15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of
the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to
the king, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they are doing.
17 And they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Jehovah,
and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the
workmen.
18 And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath
delivered me a book. And Shaphan read therein before the king.
19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he
rent his clothes.
20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the
son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,
21 Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in
Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of
Jehovah that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word
of Jehovah, to do according unto all that is written in this book.
22 So Hilkiah, and they whom the king [had commanded], went to Huldah the
prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of
the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter;) and they spake
to her to that effect.
23 And she said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Tell ye the
man that sent you unto me,
24 Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the
inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they
have read before the king of Judah.
25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that
they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore is
my wrath poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched.
26 But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye
say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: As touching the words which
thou hast heard,
27 because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when
thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof,
and hast humbled thyself before me, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before
me; I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah.
28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy
grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon
this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof. And they brought back word to the
king.
29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and
Jerusalem.
30 And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the
people, both great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the
book of the covenant that was found in the house of Jehovah.
31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk
after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his
statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the
covenant that were written in this book.
32 And he caused all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand [to it]
. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God
of their fathers.
33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that
pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were found in Israel to
serve, even to serve Jehovah their God. All his days they departed not from
following Jehovah, the God of their fathers.