A Census of Israel's Warriors

1 The Lord spoke to Moses ^(A)in the wilderness of Sinai, ^(B)in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, ^2 (C)“Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, ^(D)by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. ^3 (E)From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, ^(F)company by company. ⁴ And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. ⁵ And these are the names of the men who shall assist you. From Reuben, ^(G)Elizur the son of Shedeur; ⁶ from Simeon, ^(H)Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; ⁷ from Judah, ^(I)Nahshon the son of Amminadab; ⁸ from Issachar, ^(J)Nethanel the son of Zuar; ⁹ from Zebulun, ^(K)Eliab the son of Helon; ¹⁰ from the sons of Joseph, from Ephraim, ^(L)Elishama the son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh, ^(M)Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; ¹¹ from Benjamin, ^(N)Abidan the son of Gideoni; ¹² from Dan, ^(O)Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; ¹³ from Asher, ^(P)Pagiel the son of Ochran;

Josiah's Reforms

23 ^(A)Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. ² And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And ^(B)he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^(C)that had been found in the house of the Lord. ³ And the king stood ^(D)by the pillar and ^(E)made a covenant before the Lord, ^(F)to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

⁴ And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests ^(G)of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for ^(H)Baal, for ^(I)Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. ^(J)He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations ^(K)and all the host of the heavens. ⁶ And he brought out ^(L)the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, ^(M)and burned it at the brook Kidron ^(N)and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves ^(O)of the common people. ⁷ And he broke down the houses of ^(P)the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, ^(Q)where the women wove hangings for ^(R)the Asherah. ⁸ And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from ^(S)Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. ^9 (T)However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. ¹⁰ And he defiled ^(U)Topheth, which is ^(V)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(W)that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to ^(X)Molech.^{[a] 11} And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts.^[b] And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² And the altars ^(Y)on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars ^(Z)that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces^[c] and cast the dust of them ^(AA)into the brook Kidron. ¹³ And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of ^(AB)the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for ^(AC)Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for ^(AD)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^(AE)Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ¹⁴ And he broke in pieces the ^(AF)pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

¹⁵ Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected ^(AG)by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(AH)who made Israel to sin, ^(AI)that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned,^[d] reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. ¹⁶ And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, ^(AJ)according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, ^(AK)“It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted^[e] these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones ^(AL)of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹ And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were ^(AM)in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. ²⁰ And ^(AN)he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, ^(AO)and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

²⁹ and ^(A)they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^(B)and leave you naked and bare, and ^(C)the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring ³⁰ have brought this upon you, because ^(D)you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. ³¹ You have gone the way of your sister; ^(E)therefore I will give ^(F)her cup into your hand. ³² Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. ³⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^(K)you have forgotten me and ^(L)cast me behind your back, you yourself ^(M)must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

³⁶ The Lord said to me: ^(N)“Son of man, ^(O)will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. ³⁷ For ^(P)they have committed adultery, ^(Q)and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^(R)offered up^[a] to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. ³⁸ Moreover, this they have done to me: ^(S)they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^(T)profaned my Sabbaths. ³⁹ For when ^(U)they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^(V)they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^(W)this is what they did in my house. ⁴⁰ They even sent for men to come from afar, ^(X)to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^(Y)painted your eyes, ^(Z)and adorned yourself with ornaments. ⁴¹ You sat on ^(AA)a stately couch, with a table spread before it ^(AB)on which you had placed my incense and ^(AC)my oil. ⁴² The ^(AD)sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards^[b] were brought from the wilderness; and they put ^(AE)bracelets on the hands of the women, and ^(AF)beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³ “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’^{[c] 44} For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! ⁴⁵ But righteous men ^(AG)shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

⁴⁶ For thus says the Lord God: ^(AH)“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^(AI)an object of terror and ^(AJ)a plunder. ^47 (AK)And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^(AL)They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^(AM)burn up their houses. ^48 (AN)Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. ⁴⁹ And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and ^(AO)you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^(AP)you shall know that I am the Lord God.”

Great Are the Lord's Works