| 1 The memory of Josiah is like a blending of incense prepared by the art of the perfumer; it is sweet as honey to every mouth, and like music at a banquet of wine. |
| 2 He was led aright in converting the people, and took away the abominations of iniquity. |
| 3 He set his heart upon the Lord; in the days of wicked men he strengthened godliness. |
| 4 Except David and Hezekiah and Josiah they all sinned greatly, for they forsook the law of the Most High; the kings of Judah came to an end; |
| 5 for they gave their power to others, and their glory to a foreign nation, |
| 6 who set fire to the chosen city of the sanctuary, and made her streets desolate, according to the word of Jeremiah. |
| 7 For they had afflicted him; yet he had been consecrated in the womb as prophet, to pluck up and afflict and destroy, and likewise to build and to plant. |
| 8 It was Ezekiel who saw the vision of glory which God showed him above the chariot of the cherubim. |
| 9 For God remembered his enemies with storm, and did good to those who directed their ways aright. |
| 10 May the bones of the twelve prophets revive from where they lie, for they comforted the people of Jacob and delivered them with confident hope. |
| 11 How shall we magnify Zerubbabel? He was like a signet on the right hand, |
| 12 and so was Jeshua the son of Jozadak; in their days they built the house and raised a temple holy to the Lord, prepared for everlasting glory. |
| 13 The memory of Nehemiah also is lasting; he raised for us the walls that had fallen, and set up the gates and bars and rebuilt our ruined houses. |
| 14 No one like Enoch has been created on earth, for he was taken up from the earth. |
| 15 And no man like Joseph has been born, and his bones are cared for. |
| 16 Shem and Seth were honored among men, and Adam above every living being in the creation. |
