2 Chronicles 34 – 35

Josiah King of Judah

2 Chronicles 34

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for thirty-one years.

² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He walked in the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Josiah Cleanses the Land

³ In the eighth year of his reign, when he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David. In the twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images. ⁴ In his presence they tore down the altars of the Baals. He chopped down the sun pillars, which stood above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images into pieces and ground them to dust, which he scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of their priests on their altars. In this way he purified Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, as well as in the ruins around them, ⁷ he tore down the altars, the Asherah poles, and the images. He ground them into powder. He cut to pieces all the sun pillars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Repairs the Temple

⁸ In the eighteenth year of his rule, in order to purify the land and the House, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Ma’aseiah the administrator of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the House of the Lord his God. ⁹ They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the silver that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, from all of the remnant of Israel, and from all of Judah, Benjamin, and the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They gave it to those doing the work, to the ones who were organized to work in the House of the Lord. Those who were doing the work in the House of the Lord used it to repair and restore the building. ¹¹ They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stones and timbers for joists and beams for the buildings which the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.

¹² The men were doing the work faithfully. The supervisors appointed to oversee the work were Jahath and Obadiah, who were Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, who were Levites descended from Kohath. These Levites were all skillful with musical instruments. ¹³ They were in charge of the people transporting material and were overseers for all those doing the different kinds of work. Some of the Levites also served as scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

¹⁴ When they brought out the silver that had been brought into the House of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been received from the hand of Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah responded by telling Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the House of the Lord.” Hilkiah then gave the scroll to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Shaphan brought the scroll to the king. He also brought this report to the king: “Your servants are doing everything they were assigned to do. ¹⁷ They have emptied the silver found in the House of the Lord from the chest and have delivered it to the overseers and to the workmen.”

¹⁸ Shaphan the secretary then told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. ¹⁹ When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothing.

²⁰ The king gave this command to Hilkiah and to Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah servant of the king: ^{[1] 21} “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for those who remain in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book which has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is being poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord by doing everything that is written in this book.”

²² Hilkiah and the men the king sent with him went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, ^[2] the keeper of the vestments. ^[3] She was living in Jerusalem in the Second District. They spoke to her concerning this matter.

²³ She told them:

They brought back this message to the king.

The Book of the Covenant Is Read and Followed

²⁹ The king then summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ The king went up to the House of the Lord with all the men of Judah, with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people from the least to the greatest. In their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the House of the Lord.

³¹ The king stood in his place by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk in the way of the Lord, to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, and to uphold the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

³² Then he made all those who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin stand up and do the same. The inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

Josiah Cleanses the Land

³³ Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands that belonged to the people of Israel. He influenced everyone in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout all his days, they did not turn away from the Lord, the God of their fathers.

Josiah Celebrates a Passover

2 Chronicles 35

¹ Josiah celebrated a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He appointed the priests to their offices. He encouraged them in the service for the House of the Lord.

³ He said this to the Levites, who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord:

⁷ Josiah contributed a total of thirty thousand lambs and young goats as Passover offerings for all the people who were present, and three thousand cattle. These were contributed from the possessions of the king. ⁸ His officials contributed toward a voluntary offering on behalf of the people, the priests, and the Levites.

Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the House of God, gave the priests twenty-six hundred lambs for Passover offerings and three hundred cattle.

⁹ Konaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, with Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the officials of the Levites, contributed five thousand Passover lambs and five hundred cattle to the Levites.

¹⁰ When preparations for the service had been completed, the priests stood in their places, and the Levites stood in their divisions as the king had commanded. ¹¹ They slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests applied the blood they had received, while the Levites skinned the animals. ¹² They set aside the burnt offerings to present them on behalf of the groups of fathers’ houses of the people, to offer them to the Lord as is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. ¹³ They roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the regulation. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. They distributed them quickly to all the people.

¹⁴ Afterward, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were busy offering the burnt offerings and the fat portions until it was nighttime. So the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

¹⁵ The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were in their places according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king’s seer.

The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their assigned posts because their brother Levites prepared the Passover for them.

¹⁶ So all the service for the Lord was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah.

¹⁷ The people of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and also the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

¹⁸ No Passover like it had been celebrated in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests and the Levites, and with all Judah and Israel, whoever was present, and with the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

Josiah’s Death

²⁰ After all this, when Josiah had restored the House, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to confront him.

²¹ Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What do we have to do with each other, King of Judah? I am not against you this day, but only against the house ^[4] against which I am waging war. God has said that I should hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, so he will not destroy you.”

²² But Josiah did not turn aside from him. Instead, he disguised himself to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco, which were from the mouth of God, but he went out to battle on the plain near Megiddo.

²³ The archers shot King Josiah, so the king said to his attendants, “Take me away, because I am badly wounded.” ²⁴ His attendants took him out of the chariot and carried him to his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. He died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

²⁵ Jeremiah composed a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers have sung about Josiah in their laments right up until the present day. They made this into a customary practice in Israel. You can find them recorded among the laments.

²⁶ The rest of the acts of Josiah and his faithful deeds, which were performed according to what is written in the Law of the Lord, ²⁷ and his actions from first to last, you can find these written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.