³ Now ^(A)in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, ⁴ “^(B)Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and have him ^[a]count all the money brought into the house of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. ^5 (C)And have them hand it over to the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and have them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the Lord to repair the ^[b]damage to the house: ⁶ to the carpenters, the builders, the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house. ⁷ However, ^(D)no accounting shall be made with them for the money handed over to them, because they deal honestly.”

The Lost Book

⁸ Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “^(E)I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it. ⁹ Then Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have handed it over to the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” ¹⁰ Moreover, Shaphan the scribe informed the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, ^(F)he tore his clothes. ¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, ^(G)Ahikam the son of Shaphan, ^[c](H)Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, ¹³ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for ^(I)the wrath of the Lord that burns against us is great, because our fathers did not listen to the words of this book, to act in accordance with everything that is written regarding us.”

Huldah Predicts

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of ^[d](J)Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (and she lived in Jerusalem in the ^(K)Second Quarter); and they spoke to her. ¹⁵ Then she said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, ¹⁶ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to ^(L)bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants, all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. ^17 (M)Since they have abandoned Me and have burned incense to other gods so that they may provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands, My wrath burns against this place, and it shall not be quenched.’” ¹⁸ But to ^(N)the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, this is what you shall say to him: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Regarding the words which you have heard, ^19 (O)since your heart was tender and ^(P)you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become ^(Q)an object of horror and a ^(R)curse, and you have ^(S)torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have indeed heard you,’ declares the Lord.” ²⁰ Therefore, behold, I am going to gather you to your fathers, and ^(T)you will be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not look at all the devastation that I am going to bring on this place.’” So they brought back word to the king.

Josiah’s Covenant

23 ^(U)Then the king sent messengers, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ² And the king went up to the house of the Lord and every man of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, the prophets, and all the people, from the small to the great; and ^(V)he read in their ^[e]presence all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^(W)which was found in the house of the Lord. ³ And ^(X)the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, ^(Y)to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments, His provisions, and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people ^[f]entered into the covenant.

Reforms under Josiah

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, ^(Z)the priests of the second order, and the ^[g]doorkeepers ^(AA)to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the utensils that had been made for Baal, for ^[h]Asherah, and for all the heavenly ^[i]lights; and ^(AB)he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ Then he did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, as well as those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the remaining ^(AC)heavenly ^[j]lights. ⁶ He also brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ^(AD)ground it to dust, and ^(AE)threw its dust on the graves of the ^[k]common people. ⁷ And he tore down the cubicles of the ^(AF)male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where ^(AG)the women were weaving ^[l]hangings for the Asherah. ⁸ Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from ^(AH)Geba to Beersheba; and he tore 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 city gate. ⁹ Nevertheless ^(AI)the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. ^10 (AJ)He also defiled ^[m]Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(AK)so that no one would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for ^(AL)Molech. ¹¹ And he did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the ^(AM)sun, at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was at the ^[n]covered courtyard; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² The king also tore down ^(AN)the altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and ^(AO)the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord; and he ^[o]smashed them there and ^(AP)threw their dust into the brook Kidron. ¹³ And the king defiled the high places that were opposite Jerusalem, which were on the right of ^(AQ)the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for ^(AR)Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for ^(AS)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon. ^14 (AT)He also smashed to pieces the memorial stones and cut down the ^[p]Asherim, and ^(AU)filled their places with human bones.

¹⁵ Furthermore, ^(AV)the altar that was at Bethel and the ^(AW)high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who misled Israel into sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he ^(AX)burned the high place, ground the remains to dust, and burned the Asherah. ¹⁶ Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent men and took the bones from the graves, and burned them on the altar and defiled it ^(AY)in accordance with the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, the one who proclaimed these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is this gravestone there that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “^(AZ)It is the grave 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, “Leave him alone; no one is to disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed ^(BA)with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. ¹⁹ Then Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were ^(BB)in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had constructed, ^[q]provoking the Lord to anger; and he did to them ^[r]just as he had done in Bethel. ²⁰ And ^(BC)he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars, and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.

Passover Reinstituted

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people, saying, “^(BD)Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God ^(BE)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ^22 (BF)Truly such a Passover had not been celebrated since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, Josiah removed ^(BG)the mediums, the spiritists, the ^[s](BH)household idols, ^(BI)the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, ^(BJ)so that he might ^[t]fulfill the words of the Law which were written ^(BK)in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ²⁵ Before him there was no king ^(BL)like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might, in conformity to all the Law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

²⁶ Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, ^(BM)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. ²⁷ And the Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, ^(BN)just as I have removed Israel. And ^(BO)I will reject this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the ^[u]temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there!’”

Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^29 (BP)In his days ^(BQ)Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria at the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at ^(BR)Megiddo. ^30 (BS)His servants carried ^[v]his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. ^(BT)Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

³⁷ As Paul was about to be brought into ^(A)the barracks, he *said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Then you are not ^(B)the Egyptian who some ^[a]time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out ^(C)into the wilderness?” ³⁹ But Paul said, “^(D)I am a Jew of Tarsus in ^(E)Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” ⁴⁰ When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on ^(F)the stairs, ^(G)motioned to the people with his hand; and when there ^[b]was a great silence, he spoke to them in the ^[c](H)Hebrew dialect, saying,

Paul’s Defense before the Jews

22 “^(I)[d]Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

² And when they heard that he was addressing them in the ^[e](J)Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,

³ “^(K)I am ^(L)a Jew, born in ^(M)Tarsus of ^(N)Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ^[f]under ^(O)Gamaliel, ^[g](P)strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as ^(Q)you all are today. ^4 (R)I persecuted this ^(S)Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, ⁵ as also ^(T)the high priest and all ^(U)the Council of the elders ^[h]can testify. From them I also ^(V)received letters to ^(W)the brothers, and started off for ^(X)Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ^[i]as prisoners to be punished.

⁶ “^(Y)But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, ⁷ and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ⁸ And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am ^(Z)Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ And those who were with me ^(AA)saw the light, but ^(AB)did not ^[j]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ‘^(AC)What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ But since I ^(AD)could not see because of the ^[k]brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹² “Now a certain ^(AE)Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and ^(AF)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘^(AG)Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And ^[l](AH)at that very moment I looked up at him. ¹⁴ And he said, ‘^(AI)The God of our fathers has ^(AJ)appointed you to know His will and to ^(AK)see the ^(AL)Righteous One and to hear a ^[m]message from His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be ^(AM)a witness for Him to all people of ^(AN)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now why do you delay? ^(AO)Get up and be baptized, and ^(AP)wash away your sins by ^(AQ)calling on His name.’

BOOK 1

The Righteous and the Wicked Contrasted.