The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ After this he built an outer wall for the City of David, west of Gihon, in the valley and toward the entrance of the Fish Gate, where it went around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. Then he positioned military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.

¹⁵ And he removed the foreign gods and statues from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he built on the hill of the house of the Lord and Jerusalem, and he cast them outside the city. ¹⁶ He also restored the altar of the Lord, and he sacrificed fellowship and thanksgiving offerings, and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁷ However, the people continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

The Death of Manasseh

¹⁸ And the remainder of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer to God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel are written in the annals of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ And his prayer and how God received his entreaty, and all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and where he set up the Asherah poles and images before he humbled himself, indeed they are written in the sayings of Hozai. ²⁰ So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his palace, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon, King of Judah^(A)

²¹ And Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he was king for two years in Jerusalem. ²² And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. And Amon sacrificed to and served all the idols that Manasseh his father had made. ²³ He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father humbled himself. But he increased his guilt all the more.

²⁴ And his servants plotted against him, and they killed him in his palace. ²⁵ Then the people of the land struck down all those who conspired against King Amon. The people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

Josiah, King of Judah^(B)

34 And Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he was king for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord, and he walked in the ways of David his father and did not turn either to the right or left.

³ And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a young boy, he began to seek out the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem from high places, Asherah poles, idols, and carved and cast images. ⁴ So they tore down the altars for the Baals, and he cut down the incense altars that were above them and smashed the Asherah poles and carved and cast images. And he crushed them to dust and scattered them before the graves of those who sacrificed to them. ⁵ Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and so cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, ⁷ he broke down the altars, beat Asherah poles and the images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

⁹ When they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the door, had collected from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And they gave it to those appointed to do the work in the house of the Lord. And those who were doing the work on the house gave it to repair and restore the house. ¹¹ And they gave it to the craftsmen and builders to acquire quarried stones and timber for joists and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had ruined.

¹² So the men did the work faithfully. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, as supervisors. And other Levites, all skillful with musical instruments, ¹³ were over those laborers and supervised all those doing the work in every type of service, and other Levites were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.

The Book of the Law Found^(C)

¹⁴ When they brought out the money that had been given to the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord from Moses. ¹⁵ Then Hilkiah said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Shaphan brought the book to the king and reported, “Everything that has been designated to your servants, they are doing. ¹⁷ They have given out the money that was in the house of the Lord and have allocated to those who are supervisors and those who are doing the work.” ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the scribe also declared to the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it to the king.

¹⁹ And it happened that when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his garments. ²⁰ Then the king ordered Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the attendant of the king: ²¹ “Go and seek the Lord on my behalf and on the behalf of the remnant in Israel and Judah concerning what is written in the book that was found, for the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us is great because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do everything that is written in this book.”

²² So Hilkiah and those with the king went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, who kept the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, and they spoke to her about this.

²³ And she said to them, “So says the Lord God of Israel: Speak to the man who sent you all to Me, ²⁴ Thus says the Lord: I am bringing disaster on this place and all who dwell in it, even all the curses that are written in the book that they read before the king of Judah. ²⁵ Because they have abandoned Me and offered sacrifices to other gods in order to provoke Me with everything they have made with their hands, so My rage will be poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched. ²⁶ And the king of Judah who sent you all to seek out the Lord, so you will speak to him: So says the Lord God of Israel: The words that you have heard, ²⁷ because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and those who dwell here, and you have brought yourself low before Me and torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you, declares the Lord. ²⁸ I am bringing you to be with your fathers, and you will be brought to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place and on those who dwell here.”

So they returned this word to the king.

Josiah Restores True Worship

²⁹ Then the king sent for all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ Then the king went up to the house of the Lord with men from Judah and those living in Jerusalem, even the priests and Levites and all the people from the greatest to the least, and he read within their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. ³¹ Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant written in this book.

³² Then he appointed all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin to carry this out, and those living in Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

³³ So Josiah took away all the detestable things from the lands that belonged to the people of Israel and caused all who were found in Israel to serve their Lord God. And all his days they did not turn away from the Lord God of their fathers.

¹⁰ Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ.

Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹ Greet Herodion, my kinsman.

Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

¹² Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord.

Greet the beloved Persis, who also labored much in the Lord.

¹³ Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who is like a mother to me.

¹⁴ Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.

¹⁵ Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.

¹⁶ Greet one another with a holy kiss.

The churches of Christ greet you.

¹⁷ Now I urge you, brothers, to closely watch those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and avoid them. ¹⁸ For such people do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and through smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. ¹⁹ Your obedience has become known to all men. Therefore I am glad on your behalf. Yet I want you to be wise to that which is good, and innocent to that which is evil.

²⁰ The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

²¹ Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, greet you.

²² I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.

²³ Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you.

Erastus, who is the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.

²⁴ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Doxology

²⁵ Now to Him who has power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret for long ages past, ²⁶ but now is revealed by the prophetic Scriptures according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all the Gentiles for the obedience of faith, ²⁷ to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Psalm 26

A Psalm of David.