| 34:1 |
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
|
| 34:2 |
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.
|
| 34:3 |
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.
|
| 34:4 |
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.
|
| 34:5 |
And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their
altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
|
| 34:6 |
And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim,
and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round
about.
|
| 34:7 |
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.
|
| 34:8 |
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.
|
| 34:9 |
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.
|
| 34:10 |
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:
|
| 34:11 |
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.
|
| 34:12 |
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
musick.
|
| 34:13 |
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.
|
| 34:14 |
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.
|
| 34:15 |
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.
|
| 34:16 |
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.
|
| 34:17 |
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.
|
| 34:18 |
Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying,
Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read
it before the king.
|
| 34:19 |
And it came to pass, when the king had heard the
words of the law, that he rent his clothes.
|
| 34:20 |
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,
|
| 34:21 |
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.
|
| 34:22 |
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.
|
| 34:23 |
And she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me,
|
| 34:24 |
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:
|
| 34:25 |
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.
|
| 34:26 |
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;
|
| 34:27 |
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.
|
| 34:28 |
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.
|
| 34:29 |
Then the king sent and gathered together all the
elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
|
| 34:30 |
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.
|
| 34:31 |
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.
|
| 34:32 |
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.
|
| 34:33 |
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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