Chapter 34

The Reforms of Josiah. ¹ Josiah was eight years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and he followed in the ways of his ancestor David, not deviating either to the right or to the left.

³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles, and the carved and the cast images.^{[a] 4} Then, in his presence and following his instructions, he oversaw the destruction of the altars of the Baals, and the incense stands erected above them were torn down. The sacred poles and the carved and molten images were shattered and beaten into dust, which was then scattered over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ Finally, the bones of the priests he burned upon their altars. Thus he purified Judah and Jerusalem.

⁶ In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and in the ruined villages as far as Naphtali, ⁷ Josiah destroyed the altars, crushed the sacred poles and the images into powder, and demolished all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

The Temple Restored. ⁸ In the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had purified the land as well as the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair and restore the house of the Lord, his God. ⁹ They came to the high priest Hilkiah and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, and all the remnant of Israel, as well as from all of Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ They delivered the money to the master workmen in the house of the Lord, and these in turn used it to pay the workmen in the Lord’s house who were restoring and repairing the temple. ¹¹ They also gave money to the carpenters and the builders to purchase quarried stone, as well as timber for the rafters and beams of the buildings which the kings of Judah had permitted to fall into disrepair.

¹² The men worked conscientiously at their tasks. Their overseers who directed the work were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the line of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, members of the Kohathites. The Levites, all of them skilled in the art of playing musical instruments, ¹³ were in charge of the men who carried the burdens, and they directed all the workers in every kind of labor, while other Levites were secretaries, officials, and gatekeepers.

¹⁴ Discovery of the Law. When they brought out the money that had been deposited in the house of the Lord, the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord which had been given through Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah said to the secretary, Shaphan: “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord,” and then he gave the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Shaphan brought the book to the king and reported to him: “Your servants are doing everything that has been entrusted to them. ¹⁷ They have melted down the silver that had been deposited in the house of the Lord and have handed it over to the supervisors and the workers.” ¹⁸ Shaphan the secretary also informed the king: “Hilkiah the priest has handed over a book to me.” Then Shaphan proceeded to read extracts from the book in the presence of the king.

¹⁹ When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments. ²⁰ Then he issued this command to Hilkiah, Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, Abdon, the son of Micah, the secretary, Shaphan, and the king’s servant, Asaiah: ²¹ “Go forth and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that has been discovered. For the intense wrath of the Lord that has been poured out on us is great, because our ancestors did not observe the Lord’s command and do all that is written in this book.”

²² Therefore, Hilkiah and those others whom the king had designated went to the prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum, son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, the guardian of the wardrobe, and consulted her at her home in the Second Quarter of Jerusalem, as they had been instructed. After they spoke to her, ²³ she replied: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the one who sent you to me: ²⁴ The Lord says: I am going to bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants—all the curses written in the book that was read in the presence of the king of Judah. ²⁵ Because they have abandoned me and have burned incense to other gods, thereby provoking my anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.’

²⁶ “As for the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, give this response: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: In regard to the words that you have heard, ²⁷ since your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words spoken against this place and its inhabitants and tore your garments and wept before me, I in turn have listened, declares the Lord. ²⁸ I will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be taken to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not live to behold all the disaster that I will inflict upon this place and its inhabitants.’ ” Then the representatives of the king brought back this answer to him.

²⁹ Renewal of the Covenant.^[b] Thereupon, after the king convened all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, ³⁰ he went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, and all the people, both great and small. In their hearing he read the entire contents of the book of the covenant that was discovered in the house of the Lord.

³¹ Then the king stood by his pillar and entered into a covenant before the Lord to obey him and keep his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and soul, and thus carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³² After that, he had all those in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge their conformity to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

³³ Josiah removed all the abominable idols from the entire territory that belonged to the people of Israel, and he made it a requirement that all those who lived in Israel must worship their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their ancestors.