Chronological

Josiah Succeeds Amon

22 Josiah was an eight year old child when he began to reign, and he reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ² He practiced what the Lord considered to be right, living the way his ancestor David had lived, turning neither to the right nor to the left.

³ Eighteen years after King Josiah had begun to reign, the king sent Azaliah’s son Shaphan, grandson of Meshullam the scribe, to the Lord’s Temple. He told him, ⁴ “Go to the high priest Hilkiah, so he can count the money that has been brought into the Lord’s Temple by the doorkeepers who have been gathering it from the people. ⁵ Have them deliver it to the workmen who are supervising the Lord’s Temple, so that they may pay it over to the workmen who serve in the Lord’s Temple to repair its damages, ⁶ including paying^[a] the carpenters, builders, and masons, as well as buying timber and pre-carved stone to repair the Temple. ⁷ But you won’t need to force them to be accountable for money already paid to them, since they’re faithful.”

Hilkiah Discovers an Ancient Archive

⁸ Later on, Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I’ve discovered the Book of the Law in the Lord’s Temple.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he began to read it.

⁹ Shaphan the scribe reported to King Josiah, brought up the matter to him, and told him, “Your servants have distributed the money that was found in the Temple by giving it to the workmen who supervise the Lord’s Temple.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the scribe informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” Then Shaphan read from it in the king’s presence.

¹¹ When the king heard what was written in the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes ¹² and issued these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan’s son Ahikam, Micaiah’s son Achbor, Shaphan the scribe, and the king’s servant Asaiah: ¹³ “Go ask the Lord for me, for the people, and for all of Judah about what’s written in this book that has been discovered, because the Lord’s anger is burning against us, since our ancestors have not listened to the words written in this book and have not lived according to everything that is written concerning us.”

Huldah Predicts Disaster

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Tikvah’s son Shallum, the grandson of Harhas and supervisor of the royal wardrobe, who lived in the Second Quarter in Jerusalem. They spoke with her, ¹⁵ and she told them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me: ¹⁶ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Look! I’m bringing disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—everything written in the book that the king of Judah has read— ¹⁷ because they have abandoned me, burned incense to other gods, and they have provoked me to anger with everything that they’ve done. Therefore my anger is kindled against this place and it won’t be quenched!’” ¹⁸ Nevertheless, tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask the Lord about this,^[b] “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Now about what you’ve heard, ¹⁹ because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself in the Lord’s presence when you heard what I had to say against this place and against its inhabitants—that they would become a desolation and a curse—and you have torn your clothes and cried out before me, be assured that I have truly heard you,’ declares the Lord. ²⁰ ‘Therefore, look! I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be placed in your grave in peace. Your eyes will never see all the evil that I will bring on this place.’”’”

Josiah’s Covenant

23 At this, the king sent for and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ² The king went up to the Lord’s Temple, accompanied by all the men of Judah, everyone who lived in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and everyone—including those who were unimportant and those who were important—and he read to them everything written in the Book of the Covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s Temple. ³ The king stood beside a pillar and made a covenant in the presence of the Lord: to follow after the Lord, to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all of his heart and soul, and to carry out what was written in the covenant contained in the book. All the people consented to enter into the covenant.

Josiah Abolishes Idolatry

⁴ The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the secondary order, and the doorkeepers to take out of the Lord’s Temple all of the implements that had been crafted for Baal, for Asherah, and for every star in the heavens. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried the ashes to Bethel. ⁵ The king unseated the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places throughout the cities of Judah and in the environs surrounding Jerusalem, including those who had been burning incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to every star in the heavens. ⁶ He brought the Asherah from the Lord’s Temple to the Kidron Brook outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Kidron brook, pulverized the ashes^[c] to dust, and scattered it^[d] over the graves of the common people.

⁷ He also demolished the temples of the cultic male prostitutes that had been operating^[e] in the Lord’s Temple, where the women had been doing weaving for the Asherah. ⁸ Then he gathered together all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He also demolished the high places of the gates that had been erected to the left as one enters the city gate—that is, near the entrance operated by Joshua, the governor of the city. ⁹ Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not approach the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem, but instead they ate unleavened bread given to them by their^[f] relatives.

¹⁰ He also defiled Topheth, which is located in the Ben-hinnom Valley,^[g] so that no one would force his son or daughter to pass through the fire in dedication to Molech. ¹¹ He abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the Lord’s Temple, near the offices of Nathan-melech, the official, that were in the precincts. He also set fire to the chariots of the sun.

¹² The king demolished the rooftop altars on top of Ahaz’s upper chamber that the kings of Judah had erected, as well as the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the Lord’s Temple. He pulverized them where they stood and cast their dust into the Kidron Brook. ¹³ The king defiled the high places which faced^[h] Jerusalem on the south^[i] side of Corruption Mountain, which King Solomon of Israel had constructed for Ashtoreth, the Sidonian abomination, for Chemosh, the Moabite abomination, and for Milcom, the Ammonite abomination. ¹⁴ He broke the pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherim, and filled their locations with human bones.

¹⁵ Furthermore, he even broke down the altar that had been at Bethel as well as the high place constructed by Nebat’s son Jeroboam, who had caused Israel to sin. He demolished its stones, pulverized them to dust, and burned the Asherah. ¹⁶ As Josiah turned around, he observed the graves located there on the mountain, so he sent for and recovered the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar to defile it, in keeping with the message from the Lord that the godly man had proclaimed when he was declaring these things. ¹⁷ He asked, “What is this monument that I’m looking at?”

The men who lived in that city answered him, “It’s the grave of that godly man who came from Judah and predicted these things that you’ve done against the altar at Bethel!”

¹⁸ Josiah^[j] replied, “Leave him alone. No one is to disturb his bones.” So they preserved his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. ¹⁹ Josiah also removed all of the temples on the high places that had been in the cities of Samaria and that the kings of Israel had erected, thereby provoking the Lord.^[k] He treated Samaria^[l] just as he had Bethel. ²⁰ After he had slaughtered all the priests who served at the high places and burned their bones on those high places, he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Reinstates the Passover

²¹ After this, the king commanded all of the people, “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, just as it’s prescribed in this Book of the Covenant.” ²² From the days of the judges who ruled in Israel, no Passover had been celebrated like this, not even in all the reigns of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ In the eighteenth year of the reign of^[m] King Josiah, this Passover was observed in Jerusalem to honor the Lord. ²⁴ Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums, the necromancers, the household gods,^[n] the idols, and every despicable thing that could be seen in the territory of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he might confirm the words of the Law that had been written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s Temple. ²⁵ There had been no king like him before him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength, in obeying everything in the Law of Moses. No king arose like Josiah after him.

²⁶ Even so, the Lord did not turn away from his fierce and great anger that burned against Judah because of everything with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ The Lord said, “I’m going to remove Judah from my sight as well, just as I’ve removed Israel. I will abandon Jerusalem, this city that I’ve chosen, as well as the Temple, about which I’ve spoken, ‘My Name shall remain there.’”

Pharaoh Neco Kills Josiah

²⁸ Now the rest of Josiah’s actions, including everything that he did, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? ²⁹ During his reign, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, marched out toward the Euphrates River to meet the king of Assyria. King Josiah went out to engage him in battle, but Pharaoh Neco^[o] killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. ³⁰ Josiah’s servants drove his corpse in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in a tomb made for him.

Jehoahaz is Anointed King

The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, anointed him, and installed him as king in his father’s place. ³¹ Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ³² He practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, just as all of his ancestors had done. ³³ Pharaoh Neco placed him in custody at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed a tribute of 100 talents^[p] of silver and a talent^[q] of gold.

Jehoiakim is Made King by Pharaoh Neco

³⁴ Pharaoh Neco installed Josiah’s son Eliakim as king to replace his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He transported Jehoahaz off to Egypt, where he died. ³⁵ As a result, Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold tribute^[r] to Pharaoh, but he passed on the costs to the inhabitants of the land in taxes, in keeping with Pharaoh’s orders. He exacted the silver and gold from the people who lived in the land, from each according to his assessment, in order to pay it to Pharaoh Neco. ³⁶ Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Zebidah. She was the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. ³⁷ Eliakim practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, just as his ancestors had done.

Josiah Succeeds Amon^(A)

34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem. ² He practiced what the Lord considered to be right, following the example^[a] of his ancestor David, turning neither to the right nor to the left. ³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David. In the twelfth year of his reign,^[b] he began to remove the high places, Asherim, carved images, and cast images from Judah and Jerusalem.

⁴ They tore down the altars of Baals in his presence. He chopped down the incense altars that stood high above them. He broke into pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast images, ground them to dust, and scattered the residue on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, thus purging Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and their surrounding ruins, ⁷ he also tore down altars, destroyed the Asherim and the carved images, grinding them^[c] into dust, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

Josiah’s Restoration Work^(B)

⁸ In the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had purged the land and the Temple, he sent Azaliah’s son Shaphan, Maaseiah, mayor^[d] of Jerusalem,^[e] and Joahaz’s son Joah, the recorder, to repair the Temple of the Lord his God. ⁹ They approached Hilkiah the high priest and delivered to him the money that had been brought into God’s Temple that the descendants of Levi and gatekeepers had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, the surviving Israelis, Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They paid it to the workmen who supervised the Lord’s Temple, and the workmen who were employed in the Lord’s Temple to supervise restoration and repair of the Temple. ¹¹ They, in turn, paid the carpenters and builders to purchase quarried stone and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that previous^[f] kings of Judah had let deteriorate. ¹² The workmen did their duties faithfully with these foremen supervising them: Jahath and Obadiah, descendants of Levi who were Merari’s sons, Zechariah and Meshullam, descendants of Kohath, and various descendants of Levi, who were skilled musicians. ¹³ These men also supervised the heavy lift workers and supervised all the workmen from job to job, while some of the descendants of Levi served as scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.

The Book of the Law is Discovered^(C)

¹⁴ While they were bringing out the money that had come in as gifts to the Lord’s Temple, Hilkiah the priest discovered the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been handed down by Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah reported his finding to Shaphan the scribe, telling him, “I found the Book of the Law in the Lord’s Temple. Then he gave the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶ Shaphan took the book to the king and gave an additional report to the king, telling him “Everything that you’ve entrusted to your servants is being carried out. ¹⁷ They’ve removed the money that was found in the Lord’s Temple and have passed it on to the supervisors and the workmen.” ¹⁸ Shaphan the scribe also informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.” Shaphan read from its contents to the king.

¹⁹ As soon as he heard what the Law said, he tore his clothes. ²⁰ He issued these orders to Hilkiah, Shaphan’s son Ahikam, Micah’s son Abdon, Shaphan the scribe, and the king’s personal assistant Asaiah: ²¹ “Go ask the Lord for me and for those who survive in Israel and in Judah about the words that we’ve read in this book that we found, because the wrath of the Lord that we deserve to have poured out on us is very great, since our ancestors haven’t obeyed the command from^[g] the Lord that required us to do everything that is written in this book.”

Hilkiah Consults with Huldah, the Woman Prophet

²² So Hilkiah and the others who had received orders from the king went to visit Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Tokhath’s son Shallum, grandson of Hasrah. She was the king’s wardrobe supervisor, and she lived in Jerusalem’s Second Quarter. They asked her about what had happened. ²³ In response, she replied:

So they all brought back this message to the king.

The Covenant is Renewed^(D)

²⁹ The king sent word to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ Then the king went up to the Lord’s Temple, accompanied by the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and descendants of Levi, and everyone else from the most important to the least important, and he read out loud^[i] all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the Lord’s Temple. ³¹ While standing in his appointed place, the king made a public covenant with the Lord to follow the Lord, to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, and to do so with all of his heart and soul, and to carry out what was written in the covenant contained in the book. ³² He also made everyone who was present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand in agreement with him. As a result, the inhabitants of Jerusalem reconfirmed the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. ³³ Josiah also removed all the detestable things from the territories that belonged to the people of Israel, and made everyone who lived in Israel to serve the Lord their God. For the rest of his life, they didn’t abandon their quest to follow the Lord God of their ancestors.

Passover is Observed Again^(E)

35 Josiah observed the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He appointed priests to their offices, encouraging them in their service at the Lord’s Temple. ³ He addressed the descendants of Levi who were teaching all Israel and who had consecrated themselves to the Lord, telling them:

⁷ Josiah contributed 30,000 animals from the flocks of lambs and young goats, giving Passover offerings to all of the people who were present, plus an additional 3,000 bulls from the king’s private possessions. ⁸ His officers contributed a voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the descendants of Levi. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officials who supervised God’s Temple, gave 2,600 animals from their flocks to the priests for Passover offerings, along with 300 bulls. ⁹ Also, Conaniah, and his relatives Shemaiah, and Nethanel, along with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the officers in charge of the descendants of Levi, contributed 5,000 animals from the flocks to the descendants of Levi for the Passover offerings, along with 500 bulls. ¹⁰ As a result, the Passover service was prepared, the priests took their assigned places, and the descendants of Levi stood in their divisions as the king had commanded.

¹¹ They slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests poured out the blood that they had received from the lambs^[l] while the descendants of Levi flayed the sacrifices. ¹² They set aside in reserve the burnt offerings, so they could distribute them in proportion to the divisions of their ancestral households for presentation by the people to the Lord, as is required by the book of Moses. They did this with respect to the bulls, also. ¹³ They roasted the Passover in fire, as required by the ordinances, and boiled the holy things in pots, kettles, and pans, and delivered them quickly to all the people. ¹⁴ After this, because the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, were busy offering the burnt offerings and fat portions until evening, the descendants of Levi prepared the Passover for themselves and their fellow-descendants of Aaron, the priests. ¹⁵ The singers, as descendants of Asaph, remained at their stations as David, Asaph, Heman, and the king’s seer Jeduthun required, and the gatekeepers did not have to leave their posts because their descendant of Levi relatives prepared the Passover for them.

¹⁶ That’s how the Lord’s service was prepared that day to celebrate the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the Lord’s altar according to what King Josiah had commanded. ¹⁷ The Israelis who were present celebrated the Passover that day, as well as the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. ¹⁸ There had not been a Passover celebration like it in Israel since Samuel the prophet was alive, nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated a Passover like Josiah did at that time^[m] with the priests, the descendants of Levi, everyone from Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This Passover celebration was observed during the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

Pharaoh Neco and Josiah’s Death^(F)

²⁰ Some time after all of this, after Josiah had finished preparing the Temple, King Neco of Egypt invaded Carchemish on the Euphrates River,^[n] and Josiah went out to fight him. ²¹ But he sent messengers to him, who asked him, “What do we have in common, King of Judah? I am not here today opposing you. I am fighting the dynasty that is fighting me, and God has ordered me to hurry. For your own good, stop interfering with God, who is with me, and he won’t destroy you!”

²² But Josiah wouldn’t turn around. In fact, he put on a disguise so he could fight Neco.^[o] He wouldn’t listen to what God told him through what Neco had to say, and as a result, Josiah came to attack Neco^[p] on the Megiddo plain. ²³ Some archers shot King Josiah, and the king told his servants, “Take me away, because I’m badly wounded.” ²⁴ So his servants removed him from the chariot he was in and carried him away in a backup chariot that he had and took him back to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All of Judah and Jerusalem went into mourning for Josiah.

²⁵ Jeremiah sang a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers recite that lamentation about Josiah to this day. In fact, they made singing it an ordinance in Israel, and they are recorded in the Lamentations.^{[q] 26} Now the rest of the accomplishments of Josiah, including his faithful acts of devotion as required in the Law of the Lord, ²⁷ and his other^[r] activities from first to last, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.