2 Chronicles 34

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for thirty-one years inJerusalem.

² He did what is pleasing to Yahweh, and fol owed the example of his ancestor David, not deviatingfrom it to right or to left.

³ In the eighth year of his reign, when he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his ancestorDavid. In the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles and thesculpted and cast images.

⁴ He superintended the smashing of the altars of Baal, he broke up the incense altars standing abovethem, he shattered the sacred poles and the sculpted and cast images and reduced them to powder, scatteringthe powder on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

⁵ He burned the bones of their priests on their altars and so purified Judah and Jerusalem.

⁶ In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and round their open spaces,

⁷ he smashed the altars and sacred poles, reduced the sculpted images to powder and broke up al theincense altars throughout the territory of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ In the eighteenth year of his reign, after purging the country and the Temple, he commissionedShaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah governor of the city and the herald Joah son of Joahaz, to repair the Templeof Yahweh his God.

⁹ When they came to the high priest Hilkiah, they handed over the money contributed to the Temple ofGod and col ected by the levitical guardians of the threshold from Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the rest of Israel, from al Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ They handed it over to the masters of works attached to the Temple of Yahweh, and these gave it tothe men working on the Temple of Yahweh to repair and restore the Temple;

¹¹ they gave it to the craftsmen and builders for buying dressed stone and timber for beams, tounderpin the buildings which the kings of Judah had al owed to fall into decay.

¹² The men were conscientious in doing their work; their foremen were Jahath and Obadiah, Levitesdescended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshul am, descended from Kohath, who supervised. The Levites --al of whom were skilled instrumentalists-

¹³ were in charge of the carriers and supervised al the workmen at their various jobs, while some of theLevites acted as secretaries, book-keepers and gatekeepers.

¹⁴ While bringing out the money contributed to the Temple of Yahweh, the priest Hilkiah found the bookof the Law of Yahweh given through Moses.

¹⁵ Hilkiah then said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the Temple ofYahweh.' And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Shaphan took the book to the king, reporting furthermore to him as fol ows, 'Your servants have doneeverything entrusted to them.

¹⁷ They have melted down the silver which was in the Temple of Yahweh and have handed it over tothe supervisors and the masters of works.'

¹⁸ Shaphan the secretary also informed the king, 'The priest Hilkiah has given me a book'; andShaphan read extracts from it in the king's presence.

¹⁹ On hearing the words of the Law, the king tore his clothes.

²⁰ Then the king gave the fol owing order to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah,Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's minister,

²¹ 'Go and consult Yahweh on behalf of me and of those left in Israel and Judah about the words of thebook that has been discovered: for Yahweh's furious wrath has been pouring down on us because our ancestorsdid not obey the word of Yahweh by doing what this book says they ought to have done.'

²² Hilkiah and those whom the king had designated went to the prophetess Huldah wife of Shallum, sonof Tokhath, son of Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe; she lived in Jerusalem in the new town. They spoke toher about this,

²³ and she replied, 'Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, "To the man who sent you to me reply:

²⁴ Yahweh says this: I am going to bring disaster on this place and the people who live in it -- all thecurses set down in the book read in the king of Judah's presence.

²⁵ Because they have abandoned me and burnt incense to other gods, so as to provoke my anger bytheir every action, my wrath is about to be poured down on this place, and nothing can stop it.

²⁶ As for the king of Judah who sent you to consult Yahweh, say this to him: Yahweh, God of Israel,says this: The words you have heard . . .

²⁷ But since your heart has been touched and you have humbled yourself before God on hearing whathe has decreed against this place and the people who live in it, have torn your clothes and wept before me, I toohave heard"-Yahweh says this.

²⁸ "Look, when I gather you to your ancestors, you wil be gathered into your grave in peace; you wilnot live to see the great disaster that I am going to bring on this place and on the people who live in it." ' Theytook this answer to the king.

²⁹ The king then had al the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem summoned,

³⁰ and the king went up to the temple of Yahweh, with al the men of Judah and al the inhabitants ofJerusalem, priests, Levites and al the people, high and low. In their hearing he read out the entire contents ofthe Book of the Covenant discovered in the Temple of Yahweh.

³¹ The king then, standing on the dais, bound himself by the covenant before Yahweh, to followYahweh, to keep his commandments, decrees and laws with al his heart and soul and to carry out the terms ofthe covenant as written in this book.

³² He made al those present in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge their al egiance to it. The citizens ofJerusalem took action in keeping with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors,

³³ while Josiah removed al the abominations throughout the territories belonging to the Israelites andrequired all inhabitants of Israel to serve Yahweh their God; throughout his lifetime they did not deviate fromfol owing Yahweh, God of their ancestors.