Affirmation of the Covenant by Josiah and the People

²⁹ So the king sent messengers and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ The king went up to the Lord’s temple with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the Levites—all the people from the oldest to the youngest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the Lord’s temple.^{(A) 31} Then the king stood at his post^(B) and made a covenant in the Lord’s presence^(C) to follow the Lord and to keep his commands, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul^(D) in order to carry out the words of the covenant written in this book.^(E)

³² He had all those present in Jerusalem and Benjamin agree^[a] to it. So all the inhabitants of Jerusalem carried out the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

³³ So Josiah removed everything that was detestable from all the lands belonging to the Israelites,^(F) and he required all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout his reign they did not turn aside from following the Lord, the God of their ancestors.