² Then he cried out against the altar ^[a]by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, ^(A)Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be ^(B)burned on you.’ ”

Blessing on Israel

36 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the ^(A)mountains of Israel, and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord!

¹⁵ Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the ^[a]high place ^(A)which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. ¹⁶ As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the ^(B)word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What gravestone is this that I see?”

So the men of the city told him, “It is ^(C)the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”

¹⁸ And he said, “Let him alone; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of ^(D)the prophet who came from Samaria.

Josiah Reigns in Judah^(A)

22 Josiah ^(B)was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of ^(C)Bozkath. ² And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he ^(D)did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

⁴⁰ But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, ^(A)the stones would immediately cry out.”

^4 (A)I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and ^(B)lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, ^(C)all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.

⁴ therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills, the ^[a]rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which ^(A)became plunder and ^(B)mockery to the rest of the nations all around—

Fasting that Pleases God