34:1 Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
34:2 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD,
and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined
[neither] to the right hand, nor to the left.
34:3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet
young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and
in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from
the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the
molten images.
34:4 And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence;
and the images, that [were] on high above them, he cut down;
and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images,
he broke in pieces, and made dust [of them] and strewed [it]
upon the graves of them that had sacrificed to them.
34:5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars,
and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
34:6 And [so did he] in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and
Simeon, even to Naphtali, with their mattocks around.
34:7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and
had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the
idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to
Jerusalem.
34:8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged
the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah,
and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of
Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.
34:9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they
delivered the money that was brought into the house of God,
which the Levites that kept the doors had collected from the
hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of
Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to
Jerusalem.
34:10 And they put [it] in the hand of the workmen that had the
oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the
workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and
mend the house:
34:11 Even to the artificers and builders they gave [it], to buy
hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses
which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
34:12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of
them [were] Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of
Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the
Kohathites, to superintend [it]; and [others of] the Levites,
all that had skill in instruments of music.
34:13 Also [they were] over the bearers of burdens, and [were]
overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of
service: and of the Levites [there were] scribes, and officers,
and porters.
34:14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into
the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the
law of the LORD [given] by Moses.
34:15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I
have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And
Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
34:16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the
king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy
servants, they perform.
34:17 And they have collected the money that was found in the
house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the
overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.
34:18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the
priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the
king.
34:19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of
the law, that he rent his clothes.
34:20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of
Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe,
and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying,
34:21 Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left
in Israel, and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that
is found: for great [is] the wrath of the LORD that is poured
out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the
LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.
34:22 And Hilkiah, and [they] that the king [had appointed],
went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of
Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she
dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spoke to her to
that [effect].
34:23 And she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel,
Tell ye the man that sent you to me.
34:24 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this
place, and upon its inhabitants, [even] all the curses that are
written in the book which they have read before the king of
Judah:
34:25 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 shall be poured out
upon this place, and shall not be quenched.
34:26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of
the LORD, so shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel [concerning] the words which thou hast heard;
34:27 Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble
thyself before God, when thou didst hear his words against this
place, and against its inhabitants, and didst humble thyself
before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I
have even heard [thee] also, saith the LORD.
34:28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt
be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thy eyes see
all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the
inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.
34:29 Then the king sent and convened all the elders of Judah
and Jerusalem.
34:30 And the king went into the house of the LORD, and all the
men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests,
and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he
read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant
that was found in the house of the LORD.
34:31 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 with all his soul, to perform the words of the
covenant which are written in this book.
34:32 And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and
Benjamin, to stand [to it]. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem
did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
34:33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the
countries that [pertained] to the children of Israel, and made
all that were present in Israel, to serve, [even] to serve the
LORD their God. [And] all his days they departed not from
following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
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