²⁶ “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.^(A)

¹⁹ “Now write^(A) down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness^(B) for me against them.

¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law^(A) so that I might live for God.^(B)

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says,^(A) it says to those who are under the law,^(B) so that every mouth may be silenced^(C) and the whole world held accountable to God.^{(D) 20} Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law;^(E) rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.^(F)

The Book of the Law Found^(A)(B)

¹⁴ While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been given through Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law^(C) in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan.

¹³ “Go and inquire^(A) of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger^(B) that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

¹⁴ Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophet^(C) Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.

¹⁵ 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: I am going to bring disaster^(D) on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book^(E) the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷ Because they have forsaken^(F) me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all the idols their hands have made,^[a] my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’ ¹⁸ Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire^(G) of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: ¹⁹ Because your heart was responsive and you humbled^(H) yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people—that they would become a curse^[b](I) and be laid waste^(J)—and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law^(A) in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. ⁹ Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.^(B)

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law,^(C) he tore his robes.

⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets^(A) that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.