The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ Having returned to proper faith, Manasseh continued his father’s work. He finished building the outer city wall from the west side of the Gihon River through the valley to the fish gate. Then he built high walls around the hill of Ophel^[a] and stationed commanders at each fortified city in Judah. ¹⁵ Then Manasseh began to purge the nation of the sin he had brought there. He tore out the idols from inside the Eternal’s temple and the foreign altars from the temple mount and in Jerusalem, disposing of them outside the city. ¹⁶ He then restored the Eternal’s altar and gave grateful offerings of peace and praise there. Even though Manasseh ordered the Judahites to serve only the Eternal God of Israel in the way that He commanded, ¹⁷ they continued to sacrifice to the Eternal God at other high places instead of only in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ The other actions of Manasseh, from his birth to his death, including his prayer to his True God and the oracles of the seers, those proclaiming the reputation of the Eternal God of Israel, are recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ His prayer, the True God’s compassion, and a record of his sins, unfaithfulness, and the locations of the high places and cultic statues, before he humbled himself, are written in the chronicles of Hozai.^[b]

²⁰ But when Manasseh joined his ancestors in death, the people buried him in his house, not in the tombs with his ancestors. His son Amon reigned in his place.

²¹ Amon was 22 years old when he began his short two-year reign in Jerusalem. ²² Like his father, Manasseh, Amon committed evil acts before the Eternal by serving and sacrificing to Manasseh’s carved cultic images. ²³ But unlike his father, Amon did not recognize his sins and humble himself. In fact, his guilt was so prolific ²⁴ that his own servants murdered him in the palace.

²⁵ So the people killed the conspirators for their betrayal of King Amon and anointed Amon’s son Josiah as king instead.

34 Josiah was 8 years old when he became king, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. ² He was one of the few great kings of Israel, who determinedly obeyed the Eternal and followed the example of his ancestor David. ^3-4 His zeal for the True God of David began in the 8th year of his reign while he was still a child of 16, but he did not begin his reforms of Judah and Jerusalem until he was 20 years old. Then he removed the high places, chopped down the sacrificial altars and incense altars of the Baals, and smashed the carved and molten images of Asherah and other gods. He then took the broken pieces of the icons, crushed them into powder, and sprinkled that powder on the graves of the people who had worshiped them. ⁵ He even burned the bones of the priests who had served those gods on the cultic altars to completely purge Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ He then continued his reforms throughout the region, including Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and Naphtali and their surrounding villages, ⁷ where he personally smashed the carved images of Asherah and other gods into powder and chopped down the incense altars. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ By the 18th year of his reign, Josiah had cleansed the nation and the temple. Now it was time to repair them both by rebuilding the temple. He sent Shaphan (son of Azaliah), Maaseiah (a city official), and Joah (son of Joahaz the recorder) to the temple of the True God, the Eternal, in order to organize repairs there. ⁹ First, they took the money from the temple coffers and gave it to Hilkiah, the high priest, so he could oversee the funds for the temple repairs. The money had been collected at the temple by the Levite doorkeepers from those remaining in the Northern Kingdom, including Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all those in the Southern Kingdom, including Judah, Benjamin, and the city of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The money went to the Eternal’s temple construction supervisors who then subcontracted the work to tradesmen and craftsmen. ¹¹ Those subcontractors purchased cut stone, timber, and couplings to rebuild the portions of the temple that had become ruined because of the neglect by the kings of Judah. ¹² The subcontractors were dependable workers, following the guidance of their supervisors: Jahath and Obadiah (Levites from the clan of Merari), Zechariah and Meshullam (Levites from the clan of Kohath), and the Levite musicians. ¹³ These supervisors guided everyone on the job, from the subcontractors and foremen to the unskilled laborers, while performing their regular duties of record keepers, officials, and gatekeepers.

¹⁴ As Josiah’s three servants were bringing out the money from the Eternal’s treasury, Hilkiah the priest made an unexpected discovery. Deep inside the temple storerooms, long forgotten, was the Eternal’s law book, rules He had given to the Israelites through Moses.

Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, ¹⁶ who took it to the king and affirmed that they were proceeding with the temple repairs.

Shaphan then read these laws in the presence of the king.

¹⁹ When the king heard those words, he realized how far his nation had drifted from God’s path, and he tore his clothes in mourning. ²⁰ He then summoned five of his high-ranking officials: Hilkiah, Ahikam (son of Shaphan), Abdon (son of Micah), Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant.

²² The four men including Hilkiah went straight to Huldah the prophetess in Jerusalem’s Second Quarter because they knew He would speak through her. Huldah was the wife of Shallum (son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe).

The four servants gave the king this message, ²⁹ and he immediately summoned all the elders in Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ The entire nation (great and small, priest and layman, man and woman) went up to the Eternal’s temple where Josiah read to them the laws from the book of the covenant that was found in the Eternal’s temple. ^31-32 There, the king and the entire assembly in Jerusalem, people from Benjamin and Judah, stood and renewed Israel’s covenant with the Eternal, promising to follow His ways, obey His laws with all diligence, and perform the duties of the covenant described in the book. Then all the people in Jerusalem respected their covenant with the True God, the God of their ancestors, ³³ and Josiah purged all the lands of Israel of false worship, making certain everyone in Israel served the Eternal God. The people remained faithful to the Eternal God of their ancestors throughout Josiah’s reign.

¹⁰ Send greetings to Apelles, a tried and true believer in the Anointed, and to the entire family of Aristobulus.

¹¹ Do not forget to greet Herodion, another of my relatives, and everyone in the family of Narcissus who belong to the Lord.

¹² Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, faithful laborers in the Lord, and our beloved Persis, who also has accomplished a great deal in the Lord.

¹³ Give my best to Rufus, clearly one of the Lord’s chosen, and also his mother. She’s like a mother to me.

¹⁴ My regards also go to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and all the brothers and sisters who are along with them.

¹⁵ Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and let me not forget Olympas and all the saints who journey with them.

¹⁶ Greet each other with a holy kiss. All of the churches of the Anointed under my care send their greetings to all of you.

¹⁷ I am pleading with all of you, brothers and sisters, to keep up your guard against anyone who is causing conflicts and enticing others with teachings contrary to what you have already learned. If there are people like that in your churches, stay away from them. ¹⁸ These kinds of people are not truly serving our Lord Jesus the Anointed; they have devoted their lives to satisfying their own appetites. With smooth talking and a well-rehearsed blessing, they lead a lot of unsuspecting people down the wrong path. ¹⁹ The stories about the way you are living in obedience to God have traveled to all the churches. So celebrate your faithfulness to God that is being displayed in your lives—seek wisdom about the good life, and remain innocent when it comes to evil. ²⁰ If you do this, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet soon. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, be ever present with you.

²¹ Timothy, my coworker in the spreading of the gospel, also sends his greeting to all of you, as do my kinsmen, Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater.

²² I, Tertius, the one who wrote this letter for Paul, greet you in the name of the Lord. ²³ Gaius, my host here as well as patron for the whole church, sends his^[a] best to all of you. Erastus, the city administrator, sends his greetings along with brother Quartus. [²⁴ May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, touch you all. Amen.]^[b]

²⁵ So to the One who is able to strengthen you to live consistently with my good news and the preaching of Jesus, the Anointed, with the revelation of the ancient mystery that has been kept secret since the earliest days, ²⁶ this mystery is revealed through the prophetic voices passed down in the Scriptures, as they have been commanded by the Eternal God. In this time, this mystery is being made known to the nations so that all may be led to faith-filled obedience.

²⁷ To the one true and wise God, we offer glory for all times through Jesus, the Anointed One. Amen.

Psalm 26

A song of David.