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CHAPTER 34
1 Josiah was of eight years, when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did that, that was rightful [or right] in the sight of the Lord; and went in the ways of David, his father, and bowed not to the right side, neither to the left side.
3 And in the eighth year of the realm of his empire, when he was yet a boy, that is, sixteen years old, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year after that he began, he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem from high places, and woods, and simulacra, and graven images.
4 And they destroyed before him the altars of Baalim, and they destroyed the simulacra, that were put above. Also he hewed down the maumet woods, and the graven images, and brake to small gobbets; and scattered abroad the small gobbets on the burials of them, that were wont to offer to those.
5 Furthermore the king burnt the bones of priests upon the altars of idols, and he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem of idolatry.
6 But also he destroyed all the idols in the cities of Manasseh, and of Ephraim, and of Simeon, unto Naphtali.
7 And when he had scattered the altars, and had all-broken into gobbets the maumet woods, and the graven images, and had destroyed all [the] temples of idols from all the land of Israel, he turned again into Jerusalem.
8 Therefore in the eighteenth year of his realm, when the land and the temple was cleansed now, he sent Shaphan, the son of Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, the prince of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz, his chan-cellor, that they should repair the house of the Lord his God.
9 Which came to Hilkiah, the great priest; and when they had taken of him the money, that was brought into the house of the Lord, which money the deacons [or Levites] and porters had gathered of men of Manasseh, and of Ephraim, and of all the remnant men of Israel, and of Judah and of Benjamin, and of the dwellers of Jerusalem,
10 they gave it into the hands of them that were sovereigns of the workmen in the house of the Lord, that they should restore the temple, and repair all the feeble things thereof.
11 And they gave that money to the craftsmen and masons, for to buy stones hewed out of the quarries, and wood to the joinings of the buildings, and to the couplings of [the] houses, which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
12 The which workmen did faithfully all things. And the sovereigns of workers were Jahath, and Obadiah, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah, and Meshullam, of the sons of Kohath, which hasted the work; all were deacons [or Levites], knowing how to sing with organs.
13 And over them that bare burdens to diverse uses were scribes, and masters of deacons [or Levites], and porters.
14 And when they bare out the money, that was brought into the temple of the Lord, Hilkiah, the priest, found a book of the law of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
15 And Hilkiah said to Shaphan, the writer [or scribe], I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah took it to Shaphan,
16 and he bare in the book to the king; and he told to him, and said, Lo! all things be fulfilled, or ended, which thou hast given into the hands of thy servants.
17 And they have welled together the silver, which is found in the house of the Lord; and it is given to the sov-ereigns of the craftsmen, and those making diverse works;
18 furthermore Hilkiah, the priest, took to me this book. And when he had rehearsed this book in the presence of the king,
19 and when the king had heard the words of the law, he rent his clothes;
20 and he commanded to Hilkiah, and to Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and to Abdon, the son of Micah, and to Shaphan, the scribe, and to Asaiah, the servant of the king, and said,
21 Go ye, and pray the Lord for me, and for the remnant of men of Israel and of Judah, on all the words of this book, that is found. For great venge-ance of the Lord hath dropped upon us, for our fathers kept not the words of the Lord, to do all things that be written in this book.
22 Therefore Hilkiah, and they that were sent together from the king, went to Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the king’s clothes, the which Huldah dwelled in Jeru-salem in the second ward; and they spake to her the words, which we told before.
23 And she answered to them, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Say ye to the man, that sent you to me,
24 The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bring evils upon this place, and upon the dwellers thereof, and all the cursings that be written in this book, that they have read before the king of Judah.
25 For they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to alien gods, for to stir me to wrathfulness in all the works of their hands; therefore my strong vengeance shall drop upon this place, and it shall not be quenched.
26 But speak ye thus to the king of Judah, that sent you to pray the Lord, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, For thou heardest the words of the book,
27 and thine heart thereby is made nesh, and thou art meeked in the sight of the Lord of these things which be said against this place, and against the dwellers of Jerusalem, and thou hast reverenced my face, and hast rent thy clothes, and hast wept before me; also I have heard thee, saith the Lord.
28 For now I shall gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be borne into thy sepulchre in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil, that is, none of all the evils, that I shall bring in upon this place, and upon the dwellers thereof. Then they told to the king all things, that Huldah had said.
29 And after that the king had called together all the elder men of Judah and of Jerusalem,
30 he went up into the house of the Lord, and there went up together with him all the men of Judah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem, priests, and deacons [or Levites], and all the people, from the least unto the most; to whose hearing in the house of the Lord, the king read all the words of the foresaid book.
31 And he stood in his throne, and smote, or made, a bond of peace before the Lord, for to pursue or go after him, and to keep the command-ments, and the witnessings, and the justifyings of him, in all his heart, and in all his soul; and to do those things which were written in that book, that he had read.
32 And he charged greatly upon this thing all men, that were found in Jeru-salem and Benjamin; and the dwellers of Jerusalem did after the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers.
33 Therefore Josiah did away all the abominations from all the countries of the sons of Israel; and made all men, that were left in Israel, to serve the Lord God; and in all the days of his life they went not away from the Lord God of their fathers.

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© 2001,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015 Terry Noble