2 Chronicles 34-35

Common English Bible

Josiah rules

34 Josiah was 8 years old when he became king, and he ruled for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes and walked in the ways of his ancestor David, not deviating from it even a bit to the right or left. ³ In the eighth year of his rule, while he was just a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began purifying Judah and Jerusalem of the shrines, the sacred poles,^[a] idols, and images. ⁴ Under his supervision, the altars for the Baals were torn down, and the incense altars that were above them were smashed. He broke up the sacred poles, idols, and images, grinding them to dust and scattering them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, purifying Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, all the way up to Naphtali, he removed their temples,^{[b] 7} tore down the altars and sacred poles, ground the idols to dust, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then Josiah returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah repairs the temple

⁸ In the eighteenth year of his rule, after he had purified the land and the temple, Josiah sent Azaliah’s son Shaphan, Maaseiah the mayor of the city, and Joahaz’s son Joah the secretary to repair the Lord his God’s temple. ⁹ When they came to the high priest Hilkiah, they delivered the money that had been collected in God’s temple by the levitical gatekeepers from Manasseh, Ephraim, and the rest of Israel, as well as from Judah, Benjamin, and the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They handed it over to the supervisors^[c] in charge of the Lord’s temple, who in turn paid it to those working on, repairing, and restoring the Lord’s temple. ¹¹ They then gave it to the carpenters and the builders to pay for quarried stone and lumber for rafters and beams in the buildings the kings of Judah had neglected. ¹² The men worked conscientiously under the supervision of Jahath and Obadiah, who were Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites. The Levites, all of whom were accomplished musicians, ¹³ were also in charge of the laborers and all the workers, no matter what their jobs, while some of the Levites served as scribes, officials, and guards.

The Instruction scroll

¹⁴ While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the Lord’s temple, Hilkiah the priest found the Instruction scroll that the Lord had given through Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah told the secretary Shaphan, “I have found the Instruction scroll in the Lord’s temple.”

Then Hilkiah turned the scroll over to Shaphan, ¹⁶ who brought it to the king with this report: “Your servants are doing everything you’ve asked them to do. ¹⁷ They have released the money that was found in the Lord’s temple and have handed it over to the supervisors and the workers.” ¹⁸ Then the secretary Shaphan told the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a scroll,” and he read it out loud before the king.

¹⁹ As soon as the king heard what the Instruction scroll said, he ripped his clothes. ²⁰ The king ordered Hilkiah, Shaphan’s son Ahikam, Micah’s son Abdon, the secretary Shaphan, and the royal officer Asaiah as follows: ²¹ “Go and ask the Lord on my behalf, and on behalf of those who still remain in Israel and Judah, concerning the contents of this scroll that has been found. The Lord must be furious with us because our ancestors failed to obey the Lord’s word and do everything written in this scroll.”

²² So Hilkiah and the royal officials went to the prophetess Huldah. She was married to Shallum, Tokhath’s son and Hasrah’s grandson, who was in charge of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the second district. When they spoke to her, ²³ she replied, “This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says: Tell this to the man who sent you to me: ²⁴ This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring disaster on this place and its citizens—all the curses written in the scroll that they have read to Judah’s king. ²⁵ My anger burns against this place, never to be quenched, because they’ve deserted me and have burned incense to other gods, angering me by everything they have done.^{[d] 26} But also say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to question the Lord: This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says about the message you’ve just heard: ²⁷ Because your heart was broken and you submitted before the Lord when you heard what he said against this place and its citizens,^[e] and because you ripped your clothes and cried before me, I have listened to you, declares the Lord. ²⁸ I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will go to your grave in peace. You won’t experience the disaster I am about to bring on this place and its citizens.”

When they reported Huldah’s words to the king, ²⁹ the king sent a message and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ Then the king went up to the Lord’s temple, together with all the people of Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, and all the people, young and old alike. There the king read out loud all the words of the covenant scroll that had been found in the Lord’s temple. ³¹ The king stood in his place and made a covenant with the Lord that he would follow the Lord by keeping his commandments, his instructions, and his regulations with all his heart and all his being, in order to fulfill the words of the covenant that were written in this scroll. ³² Then he made everyone found in Jerusalem and Benjamin join in a similar promise. The citizens of Jerusalem lived according to the covenant made with God, the God of their ancestors. ³³ Josiah got rid of all the detestable idols from all the regions that belonged to the Israelites, and he made everyone who lived in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as Josiah lived, they didn’t turn away from following the Lord God of their ancestors.

Josiah’s Passover

35 Then Josiah celebrated the Lord’s Passover in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.^{[f] 2} He assigned the priests to their posts, encouraging them to fulfill their responsibilities in the Lord’s temple.

³ Next Josiah ordered the Levites, who were holy to the Lord and who instructed all Israel: “Put the holy chest in the temple built by Israel’s King Solomon, David’s son. You don’t need to carry it around on your shoulders anymore. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. ⁴ Organize yourselves by families according to your divisions, as directed by Israel’s King David and his son Solomon. ⁵ Stand in the sanctuary, according to the family divisions of your relatives the laypeople, so that there can be Levites for each family division.^{[g] 6} Slaughter the Passover lambs and prepare the holy sacrifices^[h] for your relatives in order to celebrate according to the Lord’s word through Moses.”

⁷ On behalf of the laypeople, Josiah donated from his personal holdings thirty thousand lambs and young goats, and three thousand bulls, all for the Passover offerings. ⁸ His officials also provided spontaneous gift offerings for the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the ones in charge of God’s temple, gave two thousand six hundred Passover lambs and three hundred bulls for the priests. ⁹ Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, along with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, provided the Levites with five thousand lambs and five hundred bulls as Passover sacrifices. ¹⁰ When everything was ready, the priests and the Levites took their places as the king had ordered. ¹¹ Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs, and the priests splashed the blood^[i] while the Levites skinned the animals. ¹² Next they divided the entirely burned offerings among the laypeople by their families to sacrifice to the Lord as written in the scroll from Moses, and they did the same with the bulls. ¹³ They roasted the Passover lambs in the fire as instructed, cooked the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and brought them quickly to all the laypeople. ¹⁴ Next they prepared food for themselves and for the priests. Since the priests, Aaron’s descendants, were busy offering up the entirely burned offerings and fat pieces until nighttime, the Levites prepared food for themselves and for the priests, Aaron’s descendants. ¹⁵ The Asaphite singers also remained at their stations as ordered by David, Asaph, Heman, and the king’s seer Jeduthun, as did the guards at the various gates. They didn’t need to leave their tasks because their fellow Levites prepared food for them. ¹⁶ So on that day all of the Lord’s service was prepared for celebrating Passover and offering up entirely burned offerings on the Lord’s altar, just as King Josiah had ordered. ¹⁷ The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. ¹⁸ Not since the days of the prophet Samuel had such a Passover been celebrated in Israel. And no other king of Israel had celebrated a Passover like the one Josiah celebrated with the priests, the Levites, all the people of Judah and Israel who were present, and the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s rule.

Josiah’s death

²⁰ After all of these things, when Josiah had finished restoring the temple, Egypt’s King Neco marched against Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out against him. ²¹ But Neco sent messengers to Josiah. “What do you want with me, king of Judah?” he asked. “I haven’t come to attack you today. I’m after the dynasty that wars with me. God told me to hurry, and he is on my side. Get out of God’s way, or he will destroy you.”

²² But Josiah wouldn’t turn back. Instead, he camouflaged himself in preparation for battle, refusing to listen to Neco’s words from God’s own mouth, and went to fight Neco on the plain of Megiddo. ²³ When archers shot King Josiah, he said to his servants, “Take me away; I’m badly wounded!” ²⁴ So his servants took him out of his chariot, placed him in another one, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. ²⁵ Jeremiah composed a funeral song^[j] for Josiah, and to this day every singer, man or woman, continues to remember Josiah in their funeral songs. They are now traditional in Israel and are written down among the funeral songs.

²⁶ The rest of Josiah’s deeds, including his faithfulness in acting according to what is written in the Lord’s Instruction, ²⁷ and everything else he did, from beginning to end, are written in the official records of Israel’s and Judah’s kings.