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Josiah was
eight years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
02 And he did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his
father, and declined neither to the right hand,
nor to the left.
03 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he
was yet young, he began to seek after the God of
David his father: and in the twelfth year he
began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high
places, and the groves, and the carved images,
and the molten images.
04 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in
his presence; and the images, that were on high
above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the
carved images, and the molten images, he brake in
pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it
upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto
them.
05 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon
their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
06 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and
Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with
their mattocks round about.
07 And when he had broken down the altars and the
groves, and had beaten the graven images into
powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all
the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
08 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when
he had purged the land, and the house, he sent
Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the
governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz
the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his
God.
09 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest,
they delivered the money that was brought into
the house of God, which the Levites that kept the
doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and
Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of
all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to
Jerusalem.
10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen
that had the oversight of the house of the Lord,
and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in
the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the
house:
11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they
it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings,
and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah
had destroyed.
12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the
overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the
Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and
Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set
it forward; and other of the Levites, all that
could skill of instruments of music.
13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens,
and were overseers of all that wrought the work
in any manner of service: and of the Levites
there were scribes, and officers, and porters.
14 And when they brought out the money that was
brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the
priest found a book of the law of the Lord given
by Moses.
15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the
scribe, I have found the book of the law in the
house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book
to Shaphan.
16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and
brought the king word back again, saying, All
that was committed to thy servants, they do it.
17 And they have gathered together the money that
was found in the house of the Lord, and have
delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and
to the hand of the workmen.
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18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying,
Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And
Shaphan read it before the king.
19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard
the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.
20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the
son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and
Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the
king's, saying,
21 Go, enquire of the Lord for me, and for them
that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning
the words of the book that is found: for great is
the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us,
because our fathers have not kept the word of the
Lord, to do after all that is written in this
book.
22 And Hilkiah, and they that the king had
appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the
wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of
Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in
Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her
to that effect.
23 And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me,
24 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil
upon this place, and upon the inhabitants
thereof, even all the curses that are written in
the book which they have read before the king of
Judah:
25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned
incense unto other gods, that they might provoke
me to anger with all the works of their hands;
therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this
place, and shall not be quenched.
26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to
enquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the
words which thou hast heard;
27 Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst
humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his
words against this place, and against the
inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before
me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before
me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.
28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and
thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace,
neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I
will bring upon this place, and upon the
inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king
word again.
29 Then the king sent and gathered together all
the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 And the king went up into the house of the
Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and
the Levites, and all the people, great and small:
and he read in their ears all the words of the
book of the covenant that was found in the house
of the Lord.
31 And 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
heart, and with all his soul, to perform the
words of the covenant which are written in this
book.
32 And he caused all that were present in
Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the
inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the
covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out
of all the countries that pertained to the
children of Israel, and made all that were
present in Israel to serve, even to serve the
Lord their God. And all his days they departed
not from following the Lord, the God of their
fathers.
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