2 Chronicles 34

1Josiah was 8 years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for 31 years.

2Josiah lived in a way that pleased the Lord, as his grandfather David had done. Josiah always doing what was right, and never changed his way of life.

3In the 8th year after Josiah had become king, Josiah was still a young man then, Josiah started serving the God of his grandfather David. In the 12th year after Josiah had become king, he started to destroy the places of sacrifice, the sacred pillars and the images of wood and metal. Josiah destroyed all of them.

4Josiah told the people to break down the altars of Baal. They also cut down the incense altars that stood high above the people. They broke the idols that were carved and the idols that were made from molds. Josiah beat the idols into powder and sprinkled the powder on the graves of the people who had offered sacrifices to the Baal.

5Josiah took the bones of the Baal priests, and Josiah burnt them on their altars. Josiah also removed the idles from Judah and Jerusalem

6Josiah did the same in the towns of the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon to Naphtali and all area around them, with pickaxe.

7Josiah told the people to break down all the altars and the sacred pillars, and to beat the images and the incense altars into small pieces. Josiah did this in all the places of the land of Israel and then Josiah came back to Jerusalem.

8In the 18th year after Josiah had become king and after he had purified the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan, son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah, the chief of the city, with Joah, son of Joahaz the secretary, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.

9These men came to Hilkiah the high priest, they gave the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, who guarded the doors, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the people of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and the people of Jerusalem.

10Then the Levites paid the men who supervised the work on the Lord’s Temple. And the supervisors paid the workers who repaired and fixed up the Lord’s Temple.

11The supervisors gave the money to carpenters and builders to buy large rocks that were already cut, and to buy wood to make beams for the buildings. They bought wood to make the floor because the kings of Judah had destroyed them.

12The men worked faithfully. Their supervisors were Jahath and Obadiah, the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, the sons of Kohath, who made sure the work was done right. All the Levites who played the musical instruments

13The supervisors were in charge of the men who had to carry the heavy loads. The supervisors also told the workers what to do. Some of the Levites were secretaries, managers, and guards at the doors.

14When they went into the temple to get the money that the people had given, the high priest Hilkiah found the book of the laws that God had given to Moses.

15Hilkiah said to Shaphan, the secretary: I have found the book of the laws in the temple. Then Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

16Shaphan took the book to King Josiah. Shaphan reported to the king, Your servants are doing everything you told them to do.

17They took the money that they found in the temple of the God, and they gave it to the supervisors and workers.

18Then Shaphan, the secretary, told the king about the book that the priest Hilkiah had given him, and Stephan started to read to king Josiah what was written in the book.

19When Shaphan they told king Josiah what was written in the laws, King Josiah tore his clothes

20King Josiah said to Hilkiah and Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to Abdon, son of Micah, and Shaphan, the secretary, and Asaiah the servant:

21Go and ask the Lord to tell me and everyone who is still alive in Israel and Judah what will happen. Ask about the words in the book that was found. The Lord is very angry with us because our grandfathers did not obey the Lord’s word. They did not do everything this book says to do.

22Hilkiah and the other men with him went to the prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah. Huldah’s husband had to guard the clothes of the king and they lived in the lower part of Jerusalem. The me told her what the king had said.

23The prophetess Huldah said to them: The Lord, the God of Israel, Tell King Josiah the man who has you to Me:

24The Lord says: I will bring trouble to this place and to the people living here. I will bring all the terrible things that are written in the book that was read in front of the king of Judah.

25I will do it because they have turned away from Me and they have served other gods. They have made Me angry because of all the bad things that they have done. I will punish this place and I will not stop.

26Go back to King Josiah of Judah, the one who sent you to ask what the Lord wants. Tell him, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the words you heard being read:

27Josiah, I, the Lord, saw that you humbled yourself when you heard what I had said about this place. I, the Lord, saw when you tore your clothes and I listened to you when you cried.

28That is why I, the Lord, will be with you. I will not punish this place while you are alive, I will wait until you have died, and you are buried. You will not see how these people will suffer. Hilkiah and the other men went to the king and told him what the prophetess had said.

29Then king Josiah told all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to come to him.

30king Josiah went to the temple of the Lord and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem went with him, as well as the priests and Levites, all the adults and the children. Then King Josiah read to them so that they could all hear. He read what was written in the book of the covenant, that they had found in the temple of the Lord.

31King Josiah stood in the place where the king always stood, and he made a covenant before the Lord. He promised to do what the Lord said and to obey everything in the laws of the Lord. He promised to do what the laws said with all his heart and soul, and he would do everything that was written in that book.

32Then king Josiah asked every person in Jerusalem and in the tribe of Benjamin to promise that they would also do it. And the people of Jerusalem did what the covenant of the God of their grandfathers said.

33Josiah took away all the things which the Lord hates. He took them away from the homes of the children of Israel. He said that everyone in the land of Israel must serve the Lord their God. And the people served the Lord, the God of their forefathers. They did not stop doing it as long as Josiah lived.