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.
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