Chronological

Josiah Rules Judah

22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He ruled for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ² Josiah did what is right in the eyes of the Lord. He walked in all the way of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

³ In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the writer, the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the house of the Lord. He said, ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the head religious leader, that he may add up the money brought into the Lord’s house which the door-keepers have gathered from the people. ⁵ Let the money be given to the workmen who are watching over the work on the Lord’s house. And let them give it to the workmen who are doing the work on the Lord’s house. ⁶ Have them pay the builders and the men who work with wood and with stone. Have them use it for buying wood and cut stone needed to work on the house. ⁷ But do not make them tell you how the money was spent that was given to them. For they are honest men.”

⁸ Then Hilkiah the head religious leader said to Shaphan the writer, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹ Then Shaphan the writer came to the king and told him, “Your servants have taken all the money found in the house. And they have given it to the workmen who are watching over the work on the Lord’s house.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the writer told the king, “Hilkiah the religious leader has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in front of the king. ¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. ¹² Then he told Hilkiah the religious leader, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the writer, and Asaiah the king’s servant, ¹³ “Go, ask the Lord for me and all Judah about the words of this book that has been found. For the Lord is very angry with us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book. They have not done all that is written for us to do.”

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the religious leader, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to Huldah the woman who spoke for God. She was the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, and watched over the clothes of the house. (She lived in the Second Part of Jerusalem.) They spoke to her. ¹⁵ She said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says. Tell the man who sent you to me ¹⁶ that the Lord says, ‘See, I will bring trouble upon this place and upon its people. All the words of the book which the king of Judah has read will come true ¹⁷ because they have turned away from Me and have burned special perfume to other gods. They have made Me angry with all the work of their hands. So My anger burns against this place, and it will not be stopped.’ ¹⁸ But tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says about the words you have heard. ¹⁹ “You heard how I spoke against this place and against its people. I said that they should be destroyed and laid waste. They should be hated and destroyed. But when you heard this, you were sorry in your heart. You put away your pride before the Lord. You have torn your clothes and cried before Me, and I have heard you,” says the Lord. ²⁰ “So I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the trouble which I will bring upon this place.”’” So they returned to the king and told him what was said.

Josiah Brings Back True Worship

23 Then King Josiah sent men out to bring to him all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. ² The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and all the people who lived in Jerusalem. The religious leaders, the men who speak for God, and all the people went with him, both small and great. And Josiah read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Law which was found in the house of the Lord. ³ Then the king stood by the pillar. There he made an agreement before the Lord. He promised to follow the Lord and keep His Word and His Laws with all his heart and soul. He promised to obey the words of this agreement that were written in this book, and all the people joined him in the agreement.

⁴ Then the king spoke to Hilkiah the head religious leader, and the religious leaders who were next in power, and the door-keepers. He told them to bring out of the Lord’s house all the objects made for the false gods Baal and Asherah and for all the stars of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron. And he carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He got rid of the religious leaders who worshiped false gods, whom the kings of Judah had chosen. They had been chosen to burn special perfume in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the land around Jerusalem. Josiah got rid of those who burned special perfume to Baal, to the sun and the moon, to groups of stars, and to all the stars of heaven. ⁶ He brought out the object of the false goddess Asherah from the Lord’s house to the river Kidron outside Jerusalem. There he burned it and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the people’s graves. ⁷ He broke down the small rooms in the Lord’s house that were used by the men who sold the use of their bodies for their false gods. The women were making special curtains for the false goddess Asherah in these rooms. ⁸ Then King Josiah brought all the religious leaders from the cities of Judah. And he showed how sinful the high places were where the religious leaders had burned special perfume, from Geba to Beersheba. He broke down the high places at the gate of Joshua the leader of the city, which were to the left of the city gate. ⁹ The religious leaders of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem. But they ate bread without yeast among their brothers. ¹⁰ The king made Topheth unclean, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom. He did this so no one might give his son or daughter there as a burnt gift to the false god Molech. ¹¹ Josiah got rid of the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun. They had given them at the door of the Lord’s house, by the room of Nathan-melech the leader. And the king burned the war-wagons of the sun with fire. ¹² King Josiah broke down the altars which were on the roof of Ahaz’s room on the second floor. They had been made by the kings of Judah. And he broke down the altars which Manasseh had made in the two open spaces of the Lord’s house. He broke them there and threw their dust into the river Kidron. ¹³ The king made the high places sinful which were east of Jerusalem and south of the Mount of Destruction. King Solomon of Israel had built them for Ashtoreth the sinful goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the hated false god of Moab, and Milcom the hated god of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁴ And Josiah broke in pieces the pillars used in worship and cut down the Asherim. He filled their places with human bones.

¹⁵ The king broke down the altar at Bethel and the high place made by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, even that altar and the high place he broke down. He crushed its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the false goddess Asherah. ¹⁶ As Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain. He had the bones taken from the graves, and burned them on the altar. So he made the altar sinful, as the word of the Lord said would happen, through the man of God. ¹⁷ Then Josiah said, “What is this that I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. He is the one who said that these things would happen which you have done against the altar of Bethel.” ¹⁸ Josiah said, “Let him alone. Let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the man of God who came from Samaria. ¹⁹ Josiah took away all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had made the Lord angry by building them. The king did to them just as he had done in Bethel. ²⁰ And he killed on the altar all the religious leaders of the high places who were there. He burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Keeps the Passover

²¹ King Josiah told all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Law.” ²² For sure no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who ruled Israel. It had not been kept in all the days of the kings of Israel or Judah. ²³ But this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of King Josiah.

²⁴ Josiah put away the people who spoke with spirits, and people who used their secret ways. He put away the house gods and the false gods and all the sinful things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to obey the words of the Law which were written in the book that was found in the Lord’s house by Hilkiah the religious leader. ²⁵ Before Josiah there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the Law of Moses. And no one like him came after him.

²⁶ But the Lord did not stop from being very angry against Judah. Because Manasseh had done many things to make Him angry. ²⁷ The Lord said, “I will put Judah away from My eyes, as I have put away Israel. I will put away Jerusalem, this city I have chosen. And I will put away the family of which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”

Josiah Dies in Battle

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. ²⁹ In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him. And Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. ³⁰ Josiah’s servants carried his body from Megiddo in a war-wagon. They brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own grave. Then the people of the land took his son Jehoahaz and poured oil on him and made him king in his father’s place.

Jehoahaz Rules Judah

³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king. He ruled for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ³² Jehoahaz did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. He did all that his fathers had done. ³³ Pharaoh Neco put him in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not rule in Jerusalem. And he made the people of the land pay a tax of silver weighing as much as 100 men, and gold weighing as much as one man. ³⁴ Pharaoh Neco made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in the place of his father Josiah. And he changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, where he died.

Jehoiakim Rules Judah

³⁵ So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh. But he taxed the land to give Pharaoh the money he wanted. He took the silver and gold from the people of the land, from each one by the amount of tax he was made to pay. And he gave it to Pharaoh Neco. ³⁶ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king. He ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. ³⁷ Jehoiakim did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. He did just as his fathers had done.

Josiah Rules Judah

34 Josiah was eight years old when he became king. And he ruled thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³ For in the eighth year of his rule while he was still young, he began to look for the God of his father David. In the twelfth year he began to take the sinful things out of Judah and Jerusalem. He took away the high places, the objects of the false goddess Asherah, and all the objects made to look like gods. ⁴ They tore down the altars of the false gods of Baal in front of him. And he cut down the special perfume altars which stood above them. He broke in pieces the objects of the false goddess Asherah and all the objects made to look like gods. Then he ground them to dust and spread it on the graves of those who had given gifts in worship to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of their religious leaders on their altars, and made Judah and Jerusalem free from worshiping false gods. ⁶ And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in the broken down places around them, ⁷ Josiah tore down the altars and beat to dust the objects of Asherah and the objects made to look like gods. He cut down all the special perfume altars through all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

The Book of the Law Is Found

⁸ Now it was the eighteenth year of his rule, and Josiah had made the land and the Lord’s house free from worshiping false gods. At that time he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the leader of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, who wrote down the things that happened, to do the work needed on the house of the Lord his God. ⁹ They came to Hilkiah the head religious leader and gave him the money that was brought into the house of God. The Levites who watched the door had received this money from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all those who were left of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Then they gave the money to the workmen who watched over the work of the Lord’s house. And the workmen who were working in the Lord’s house used it to make the house like new. ¹¹ They gave the money to those who work with wood and to the builders to buy cut stone and wood for joints and building-pieces for the houses. The kings of Judah had not had the needed work done on them. ¹² And the men were faithful in doing the work. Watching over them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites. The Levites who were good at playing music ¹³ watched over those who carried loads and those who did work in every kind of duty. Some of the Levites were writers and leaders and gate-keepers.

¹⁴ When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the Lord’s house, Hilkiah the religious leader found the book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah told Shaphan the writer, “I have found the book of the Law in the Lord’s house.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶ Then Shaphan brought the book to the king, and said to him, “Your servants are doing all the work that they have been given to do. ¹⁷ They have taken all the money that was found in the Lord’s house and have given it to the leaders and the workmen.” ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the writer said to the king, “Hilkiah the religious leader gave me a book.” And Shaphan read it in front of the king. ¹⁹ When King Josiah heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes. ²⁰ Then the king called Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the writer, and Asaiah the king’s servant. He told them, ²¹ “Go, ask the Lord for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, about the words of the book which have been found. For much of the Lord’s anger has been poured out on us because our fathers have not obeyed the Word of the Lord. They have not done all that is written in this book.”

²² So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the woman who spoke for God. She was the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, who watched over the clothing. (She lived in Jerusalem in the second part of the city.) They spoke to her about this. ²³ And she said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me ²⁴ what I say. See, I am bringing much trouble to this place and to its people. I am allowing all the curses to come which are written in the book they have read in front of the king of Judah. ²⁵ They have left Me and have burned special perfume to other gods, that they might make Me angry with all the work of their hands. So My anger will be poured out on this place, and it will not be stopped. ²⁶ But tell the king of Judah who sent you to the Lord, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says about the words which you have heard: ²⁷ ‘Your heart was broken and you had no pride before God when you heard His words against this place and its people. And because you came before Me with no pride, tore your clothes, and cried before Me, I have heard you,’ says the Lord. ²⁸ ‘Your eyes will not see all the much trouble that I will bring on this place and its people. It will come after you die. You will be taken to your grave in peace.’”’” The men brought back this word to the king.

Josiah Brings Back True Worship

²⁹ Then the king sent and gathered together all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the religious leaders, the Levites, and all the people from the greatest to the least. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the agreement which was found in the Lord’s house. ³¹ Then the king stood in his place and made an agreement before the Lord. He agreed to follow the Lord, to obey His Laws with all his heart and soul, and to do what is written in the agreement in this book. ³² And he made all who were there in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand with him. So the people of Jerusalem promised to obey the agreement of God, the God of their fathers. ³³ Josiah took away all the hated false gods from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel. He made all who were in Israel worship the Lord their God. While Josiah was alive, they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers.

Josiah Keeps the Passover

35 Then Josiah kept the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He gave the religious leaders their duties and gave them strength to do the work of the Lord’s house. ³ And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy box of the agreement in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You do not need to carry it on your shoulders any longer. Now work for the Lord your God and His people Israel. ⁴ Make yourselves ready by your fathers’ houses in your groups, in the way that was written by King David of Israel and his son Solomon. ⁵ Stand in the holy place by the family groups of your brothers who are not religious leaders. And let some of the Levites help each family group of the people. ⁶ Now kill the Passover animals, and make yourselves holy. Make things ready for your brothers to obey the word of the Lord by Moses.”

⁷ Then Josiah gave flocks of lambs and young goats as Passover gifts for all the people who were there. He gave 30,000 of them, and 3,000 bulls. These were from the king’s animals. ⁸ His leaders also gave a free-will gift to the people, the religious leaders, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the leaders of the house of God, gave 2,600 animals from the flocks and 300 bulls to the religious leaders for the Passover gifts. ⁹ Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave 5,000 animals from the flocks and 500 bulls to the Levites for the Passover gifts.

¹⁰ So everything was made ready for the Passover. The religious leaders stood in their places, and the Levites stood by their groups, as the king had told them. ¹¹ Then they killed the Passover animals. The religious leaders took the blood from them and put it on the altar. And the Levites cut the skins from the animals. ¹² They set aside the burnt gifts that they might give them to the family groups of the people, to give to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same thing with the bulls. ¹³ So they cooked the Passover animals on the fire as the Law said. They boiled the holy things in pots and deep dishes, and carried them in a hurry to all the people. ¹⁴ After this they made everything ready for themselves and for the religious leaders because the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron, were giving in worship the burnt gifts and the fat parts until night. So the Levites made things ready for themselves and for the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵ The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also in their places, as had been written by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s man of God. The men who were gate-keepers did not have to leave their duty, because their brothers the Levites made things ready for them.

¹⁶ All the work of the Lord was made ready that day to keep the Passover, and to give burnt gifts on the Lord’s altar, as King Josiah had said. ¹⁷ So the people of Israel who were there kept the Passover at that time. And they kept the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast for seven days. ¹⁸ There had not been kept a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the man of God. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah did with the religious leaders, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were there, and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s rule.

The End of Josiah’s Rule

²⁰ After all this, when Josiah had made the house of the Lord ready, King Neco of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates. And Josiah went out to fight against him. ²¹ But Neco sent men to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has told me to hurry. Do not stand in the way of God Who is with me, or He will destroy you.” ²² But Josiah would not turn away from him. He made himself to look like someone else, so he could fight against him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the Plain of Megiddo. ²³ And the bowmen shot King Josiah. The king told his servants, “Take me away, for I am hurt.” ²⁴ So his servants took him out of the war-wagon and carried him in his second war-wagon, and brought him to Jerusalem. And there he died. He was buried in the graves of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem were filled with sorrow for Josiah. ²⁵ Then Jeremiah sang a song of sorrow for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their songs of sorrow to this day. They made them a law in Israel, and they are written in the Lamentations. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good works as written in the Law of the Lord, ²⁷ and his acts, first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.