2Ch 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in
Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2Ch 34:2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in
the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the
left.
2Ch 34:3 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 groves, and the carved
images, and the molten images.
2Ch 34:4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the
images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the
carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them,
and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
2Ch 34:5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed
Judah and Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even
unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
2Ch 34:7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten
the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the
land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:8 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 the
Lord his God.
2Ch 34:9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money
that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors
had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of
Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of
the house of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house
of the Lord, to repair and amend the house:
2Ch 34:11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone,
and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had
destroyed.
2Ch 34:12 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 other of the
Levites, all that could skill of instruments of music.
2Ch 34:13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all
that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were
scribes, and officers, and porters.
2Ch 34:14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of
the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.
2Ch 34:15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the
book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to
Shaphan.
2Ch 34:16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word
back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it.
2Ch 34:17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house
of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the
hand of the workmen.
2Ch 34:18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath
given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
2Ch 34:19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law,
that he rent his clothes.
2Ch 34:20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and
Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the
king's, saying,
2Ch 34:21 Go, inquire of the Lord 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 the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept
the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book.
2Ch 34:22 And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the
prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of
the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her
to that effect.
2Ch 34:23 And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the
man that sent you to me,
2Ch 34:24 Thus saith the Lord, 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:
2Ch 34:25 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 my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be
quenched.
2Ch 34:26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so
shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words
which thou hast heard;
2Ch 34:27 Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before
God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the
inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy
clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.
2Ch 34:28 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 of the same. So they brought the
king word again.
2Ch 34:29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and
Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:30 And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of
Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and
all the people, 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 the Lord.
2Ch 34:31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord,
to walk after the Lord, 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 which are written in this book.
2Ch 34:32 And he caused all that were present 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.
2Ch 34:33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries
that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in
Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they
departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.