2Chronicles:34-35
Seeker Overlay ON
*
Josi '
ah was eight years old when he began to reign ,
and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem .
*
He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD ,
and walked in the ways of David his father ;
and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left .
*
For in the eighth year of his reign ,
while he was yet a boy ,
he began to seek the God of David his father ;
and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places ,
the Ashe '
rim ,
and the graven and the molten images .
*
And they broke down the altars of the Ba '
als in his presence ;
and he hewed down the incense altars which stood above them ;
and he broke in pieces the Ashe '
rim and the graven and the molten images ,
and he made dust of them and strewed it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them .
*
He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars ,
and purged Judah and Jerusalem .
*
And in the cities of Manas '
seh ,
E '
phraim ,
and Simeon ,
and as far as Naph '
tali ,
in their ruins round about ,
*
he broke down the altars ,
and beat the Ashe '
rim and the images into powder ,
and hewed down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel .
Then he returned to Jerusalem .
*
Now in the eighteenth year of his reign ,
when he had purged the land and the house ,
he sent Shaphan the son of Azali '
ah ,
and Ma-asei '
ah the governor of the city ,
and Jo '
ah the son of Jo '
ahaz ,
the recorder ,
to repair the house of the LORD his God .
*
They came to Hilki '
ah the high priest and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God ,
which the Levites ,
the keepers of the threshold ,
had collected from Manas '
seh and E '
phraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem .
*
They delivered it to the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD ;
and the workmen who were working in the house of the LORD gave it for repairing and restoring the house .
*
They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone ,
and timber for binders and beams for the buildings which the kings of Judah had let go to ruin .
*
And the men did the work faithfully .
Over them were set Jahath and Obadi '
ah the Levites ,
of the sons of Merar '
i ,
and Zechari '
ah and Meshul '
lam ,
of the sons of the Ko '
hathites ,
to have oversight .
The Levites ,
all who were skilful with instruments of music ,
*
were over the burden bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service ;
and some of the Levites were scribes ,
and officials ,
and gatekeepers .
*
While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the LORD ,
Hilki '
ah the priest found the book of the law of the LORD given through Moses .
*
Then Hilki '
ah said to Shaphan the secretary , "
I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD ";
and Hilki '
ah gave the book to Shaphan .
*
Shaphan brought the book to the king ,
and further reported to the king , "
All that was committed to your servants they are doing .
*
They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the LORD and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen ."
*
Then Shaphan the secretary told the king , "
Hilki '
ah the priest has given me a book ."
And Shaphan read it before the king .
*
When the king heard the words of the law he rent his clothes .
*
And the king commanded Hilki '
ah ,
Ahi '
kam the son of Shaphan ,
Abdon the son of Micah ,
Shaphan the secretary ,
and Asai '
ah the king '
s servant ,
saying ,
* "
Go ,
inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah ,
concerning the words of the book that has been found ;
for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us ,
because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD ,
to do according to all that is written in this book ."
*
So Hilki '
ah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess ,
the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath ,
son of Hasrah ,
keeper of the wardrobe (
now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter )
and spoke to her to that effect .
*
And she said to them , "
Thus says the LORD ,
the God of Israel : `
Tell the man who sent you to me ,
*
Thus says the LORD ,
Behold ,
I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants ,
all the curses that are written in the book which was read before the king of Judah .
*
Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods ,
that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands ,
therefore my wrath will be poured out upon this place and will not be quenched .
*
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 which you have heard ,
*
because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants ,
and you have humbled yourself before me ,
and have rent your clothes and wept before me ,
I also have heard you ,
says the LORD .
*
Behold ,
I will gather you to your fathers ,
and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace ,
and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants .'"
And they brought back word to the king .
*
Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem .
*
And the king went up to the house of the LORD ,
with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites ,
all the people both great and small ;
and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD .
*
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 all his soul ,
to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book .
*
Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin stand to it .
And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God ,
the God of their fathers .
*
And Josi '
ah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel ,
and made all who were in Israel serve the LORD their God .
All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD the God of their fathers .
*
Josi '
ah kept a passover to the LORD in Jerusalem ;
and they killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month .
*
He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD .
*
And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD , "
Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David ,
king of Israel ,
built ;
you need no longer carry it upon your shoulders .
Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel .
*
Prepare yourselves according to your fathers '
houses by your divisions ,
following the directions of David king of Israel and the directions of Solomon his son .
*
And stand in the holy place according to the groupings of the fathers '
houses of your brethren the lay people ,
and let there be for each a part of a father '
s house of the Levites .
*
And kill the passover lamb ,
and sanctify yourselves ,
and prepare for your brethren ,
to do according to the word of the LORD by Moses ."
*
Then Josi '
ah contributed to the lay people ,
as passover offerings for all that were present ,
lambs and kids from the flock to the number of thirty thousand ,
and three thousand bulls ;
these were from the king '
s possessions .
*
And his princes contributed willingly to the people ,
to the priests ,
and to the Levites .
Hilki '
ah ,
Zechari '
ah ,
and Jehi '
el ,
the chief officers of the house of God ,
gave to the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred lambs and kids and three hundred bulls .
*
Conani '
ah also ,
and Shemai '
ah and Nethan '
el his brothers ,
and Hashabi '
ah and Je-i '
el and Jo '
zabad ,
the chiefs of the Levites ,
gave to the Levites for the passover offerings five thousand lambs and kids and five hundred bulls .
*
When the service had been prepared for ,
the priests stood in their place ,
and the Levites in their divisions according to the king '
s command .
*
And they killed the passover lamb ,
and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from them while the Levites flayed the victims .
*
And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers '
houses of the lay people ,
to offer to the LORD ,
as it is written in the book of Moses .
And so they did with the bulls .
*
And they roasted the passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance ;
and they boiled the holy offerings in pots ,
in caldrons ,
and in pans ,
and carried them quickly to all the lay people .
*
And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests ,
because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night ;
so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron .
*
The singers ,
the sons of Asaph ,
were in their place according to the command of David ,
and Asaph ,
and Heman ,
and Jedu '
thun the king '
s seer ;
and the gatekeepers were at each gate ;
they did not need to depart from their service ,
for their brethren the Levites prepared for them .
*
So all the service of the LORD was prepared that day ,
to keep the passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD ,
according to the command of King Josi '
ah .
*
And the people of Israel who were present kept the passover at that time ,
and the feast of unleavened bread seven days .
*
No passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet ;
none of the kings of Israel had kept such a passover as was kept by Josi '
ah ,
and the priests and the Levites ,
and all Judah and Israel who were present ,
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem .
*
In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josi '
ah this passover was kept .
*
After all this ,
when Josi '
ah had prepared the temple ,
Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Car '
chemish on the Euphra '
tes and Josi '
ah went out against him .
*
But he sent envoys to him ,
saying , "
What have we to do with each other ,
king of Judah ?
I am not coming against you this day ,
but against the house with which I am at war ;
and God has commanded me to make haste .
Cease opposing God ,
who is with me ,
lest he destroy you ."
*
Nevertheless Josi '
ah would not turn away from him ,
but disguised himself in order to fight with him .
He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God ,
but joined battle in the plain of Megid '
do .
*
And the archers shot King Josi '
ah ;
and the king said to his servants , "
Take me away ,
for I am badly wounded ."
*
So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem .
And he died ,
and was buried in the tombs of his fathers .
All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josi '
ah .
*
Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josi '
ah ;
and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josi '
ah in their laments to this day .
They made these an ordinance in Israel ;
behold ,
they are written in the Laments .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Josi '
ah ,
and his good deeds according to what is written in the law of the LORD ,
*
and his acts ,
first and last ,
behold ,
they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah .
*
The people of the land took Jeho '
ahaz the son of Josi '
ah and made him king in his father '
s stead in Jerusalem .
![[pBiblx2]](/img/pbiblx2_logo3.png){kind=logo}