2 Chronicles 34
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6 7 8
9 10 11
12 13 14
15 16 17
18 19
20 21 22 23
24 25 26
27 28 29
30 31 32
33 34 35
36
1 Josiah was eight
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty
years.
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.
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.
4 And they brake 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 brake in
pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of
them that had sacrificed unto them.
5 And he burnt the bones of the priests
upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6 And so did he in the cities of
Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round
about.
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.
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.
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 gathered of the hand of Manasseh and
Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and
they returned to Jerusalem.
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 amend the
house:
11 Even to the artificers and builders
gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor
the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
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
set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of
instruments of musick.
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.
14 And when they brought out
the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found
a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses.
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.
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 do it.
17 And they have gathered together 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.
18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king,
saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the
king.
19 And it came to pass, when the king had
heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.
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,
21 Go, enquire 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.
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 spake to her to that effect.
23 And she answered them, Thus saith the
LORD God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me,
24 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will
bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all
the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of
Judah:
25 Because they have forsaken me, and have
burned incense unto 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.
26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent
you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;
27 Because thine heart was tender, and
thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this
place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and
didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also,
saith the LORD.
28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy
fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine
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.
29 Then the king sent and
gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 And the king went up 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.
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.
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.
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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