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34
1 Josiah was eight when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years. 2 He did what was right in the Lord's sight and followed the ways of his forefather David—he did not deviate to the right or to the left.
3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to publicly worship the God of David his forefather, and in the twelfth year of his reign he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem by removing the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the metal images. 4 He had the altars of Baal torn down in front of him, and the incense altars above them cut down. In addition, the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the metal images were smashed to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had been sacrificing to them. 5 He burned the bones of the idolatrous priests on their altars. In this way he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6 Josiah repeated this in the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, all the way to Naphtali, and in their surrounding areas.*“And in their surrounding areas”: as one ancient version. Another possibility is “and in their ruins,” on account of the destruction caused by the Assyrian invasion. 7 He tore down the altars and crushed the Asherah poles and the images to dust, and cut down all the incense altars across the whole land of Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
8 In the eighteenth year of his reign, once he had finished cleansing the land and the Temple, Josiah sent Shaphan, son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the city governor, and Joah, son of Joahaz, the record-keeper, to repair the Temple of the Lord his God. 9 They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought to God's Temple. The Levites at the entrances had collected this money from the people of Manasseh and Ephraim, from what was left of the people of Israel, as well as contributions from Judah, Benjamin, and the people of Jerusalem.
10 They handed it over to those who were supervising the repair work on Lord's Temple, who in turn paid the workmen doing the restoring and repairing. 11 They also paid carpenters and builders to buy cut stone, as well as timber for joists and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let deteriorate. 12 The men did good, honest work. In charge of them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites from the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, Levites from the sons of the Kohathites. The Levites, all skilled musicians, 13 were in charge of the workmen and directed everyone involved, depending on what was required. Some of the Levites were scribes, some officers, and some gatekeepers.
14 In the process of taking out the money donated to the Lord's Temple, Hilkiah the priest discovered the Book of the Lord's Law written down by Moses. 15 Hilkiah told Shaphan the scribe, “I've found the Book of the Law in the Lord's Temple.” He gave it to Shaphan. 16 Shaphan took the book to the king and told him, “We your servants are doing everything we were instructed to do. 17 The money collected at the Lord's Temple has been handed over to those who are supervising the workers, paying them to do the repairs.” 18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest gave me this book.” Shaphan read it to the king.
19 When the king heard what the Law said, he tore his clothes.†“Tore his clothes”: a demonstration of great emotional distress. 20 Then he issue the following orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam, son of Shaphan, Abdon, son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah, the king's assistant: 21 “Go and talk to the Lord for me, and also for those who still live in Israel and Judah, about what is said in the book that's been found. For the Lord must be really angry with us because our forefathers have not obeyed the Lord's instructions by following all that's written in this book.”
22 Hilkiah and those the king had selected went and talked with Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, custodian of the wardrobe.‡“Wardrobe”: either the king's clothes, or those of the priest (s). She lived in Jerusalem, in the city's second quarter.
23 Huldah told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, 24 this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring disaster down on this place and on its people, in accordance with all the curses written in the book that has been read to the king of Judah. 25 They have abandoned me and offered sacrifices to other gods, making me angry by everything they've done. My anger will be poured out upon this place and will not be stopped.
26 But tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask the Lord, tell him this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: As for the what you heard read to you— 27 because you were receptive and repentant before God when you heard his warnings against this place and against its people, and because you have repented, tearing your clothes and weeping before me, I have also heard§“Heard”: in the sense of a positive response. you, declares the Lord. 28 All this will not happen until after you have died, and you will die in peace.*“Die in peace”: of course this did not happen, because Josiah chose to confront the Egyptian Pharaoh in battle and was killed. See 35:20-24. You will not see all the disaster that I'm going to bring down on this place and on its inhabitants.” They went back to the king and gave him her response.
29 Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 He went to the Lord's Temple with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, together with the priests and the Levites, all the people from the least to the greatest, and he read to them the whole Book of the Agreement that had been discovered in the Lord's Temple. 31 The king stood by the pillar and made a solemn agreement before the Lord to follow him and to keep his commandments, laws, and regulations with total dedication, and to observe the requirements of the agreement as written in the book. 32 Then he had everyone present from Jerusalem and Benjamin stand up to show they agreed to it. So all the people of Jerusalem accepted and followed the agreement with God, the God of their forefathers.
33 Josiah demolished all the vile idols from the whole territory belonging to the Israelites, and he made everyone in Israel serve the Lord their God. During his reign they did not give up worshiping the Lord, the God of their fathers.

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*34:6 “And in their surrounding areas”: as one ancient version. Another possibility is “and in their ruins,” on account of the destruction caused by the Assyrian invasion.

†34:19 “Tore his clothes”: a demonstration of great emotional distress.

‡34:22 “Wardrobe”: either the king's clothes, or those of the priest (s).

§34:27 “Heard”: in the sense of a positive response.

*34:28 “Die in peace”: of course this did not happen, because Josiah chose to confront the Egyptian Pharaoh in battle and was killed. See 35:20-24.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher