2 Kings 22Contemporary English Version (CEV)

King Josiah of Judah

22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled thirty-one years from Jerusalem. His mother Jedidah was the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. ² Josiah always obeyed the Lord, just as his ancestor David had done.

Hilkiah Finds The Book of God’s Law

³ After Josiah had been king for eighteen years, he told Shaphan,^[a] one of his highest officials:

⁸ While Shaphan was at the temple, Hilkiah handed him a book and said, “Look what I found here in the temple—The Book of God’s Law.”

Shaphan read it, ⁹ then went back to Josiah and reported, “Your officials collected the money in the temple and gave it to the men supervising the repairs. ¹⁰ But there’s something else, Your Majesty. The priest Hilkiah gave me this book.” Then Shaphan read it out loud.

¹¹ When Josiah heard what was in The Book of God’s Law, he tore his clothes in sorrow. ¹² At once he called together Hilkiah, Shaphan, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, and his own servant Asaiah. He said, ¹³ “The Lord must be furious with me and everyone else in Judah, because our ancestors did not obey the laws written in this book. Go find out what the Lord wants us to do.”

¹⁴ The five men left right away and went to talk with Huldah the prophet. Her husband was Shallum,^[b] who was in charge of the king’s clothes. Huldah lived in the northern part of Jerusalem, and when they met in her home, ¹⁵ she said:

The men left and took Huldah’s answer back to Josiah.