Josiah Reigns in Judah

1 ^aJosiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of ^bBozkath. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, ^cand he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Josiah Repairs the Temple

3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, 4 “Go up to ^dHilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money ^ethat has been brought into the house of the Lord, which ^fthe keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. 5 ^gAnd let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house 6 (that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. 7 But ^hno accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.”

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

8 And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found ⁱthe Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.

11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, ^jhe tore his clothes. 12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and ^kAhikam the son of Shaphan, and ^lAchbor the son of ^lMicaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, 13 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is ^mthe wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of ⁿTikvah, son of ⁿHarhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in ^othe Second Quarter), and they talked with her. 15 And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, 16 Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. 17 ^pBecause they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore ^mmy wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. 18 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 19 ^qbecause your heart was penitent, and you ^rhumbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become ^sa desolation and ^ta curse, and you ^uhave torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. 20 Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and ^vyou shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’” And they brought back word to the king.

Josiah’s Reforms

1 ^wThen the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 2 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And ^xhe read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^ythat had been found in the house of the Lord. 3 And the king stood ^zby the pillar and ^amade a covenant before the Lord, ^bto walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests ^cof the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for ^dBaal, for ^eAsherah, and for all the host of heaven. ^fHe burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations ^gand all the host of the heavens. 6 And he brought out ^hthe Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, ⁱand burned it at the brook Kidron ^jand beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves ^kof the common people. 7 And he broke down the houses of ^lthe male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, ^mwhere the women wove hangings for ^hthe Asherah. 8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from ⁿGeba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city. 9 ^oHowever, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10 And he defiled ^pTopheth, which is ^qin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^rthat no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to ^sMolech.¹ 11 And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts.² And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 And the altars ^ton the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars ^uthat Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces³ and cast the dust of them ^vinto the brook Kidron. 13 And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of ^wthe mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for ^xAshtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for ^yChemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^zMilcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14 And he broke in pieces the ^apillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected ^bby Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^cwho made Israel to sin, ^dthat altar with the high place he pulled down and burned,⁴ reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. 16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, ^eaccording to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 17 Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, ^f“It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted⁵ these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” 18 And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones ^gof the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19 And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were ^hin the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 20 And ⁱhe sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, ^jand burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Restores the Passover

21 And the king commanded all the people, ^k“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^las it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 ^mFor no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

24 Moreover, Josiah put away ⁿthe mediums and the necromancers and ^othe household gods and ^pthe idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish ^qthe words of the law that were written in the book ^rthat Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25 ^sBefore him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

26 Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, ^tbecause of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27 And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, ^uas I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, ^vand the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

Josiah’s Death in Battle

28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29 ^wIn his days ^xPharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at ^yMegiddo, as soon as he saw him. 30 ^zAnd his servants carried him dead in a chariot from ^yMegiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. ^aAnd the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.

Jehoahaz’s Reign and Captivity

31 ^bJehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^cHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^daccording to all that his fathers had done. 33 And ^xPharaoh Neco put him in bonds at ^eRiblah in the land of ^fHamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents⁶ of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And ^xPharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and ^gchanged his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, ^hand he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim ⁱgave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah

36 ^jJehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^daccording to all that his fathers had done.

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of ^bAsaph.

Our Heavenly Dwelling

1 For we know that if ^kthe tent that is ^lour earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, ^ma house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent ⁿwe groan, longing to ^oput on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on¹ we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal ^pmay be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, ^qwho has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.²

6 So we are always of good courage. We know that ^rwhile we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for ^swe walk by faith, not ^tby sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we ^uwould rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to ^vplease him. 10 For ^wwe must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, ^xso that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

11 Therefore, knowing ^ythe fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But ^zwhat we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 ^aWe are not commending ourselves to you again but ^bgiving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we ^care beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ ^dcontrols us, because we have concluded this: that ^eone has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, ^fthat those who live might no longer live for themselves but ^gfor him who for their sake died and was raised.

16 From now on, therefore, ^hwe regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is ⁱin Christ, he is ^ja new creation.^{3 k}The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, ^lwho through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us ^mthe ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling⁴ the world to himself, ⁿnot counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us ^mthe message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, ^owe are ambassadors for Christ, ^pGod making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 ^qFor our sake he made him to be sin ^rwho knew no sin, so that in him we might become ^sthe righteousness of God.