34 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 of the high places, and the Asherah poles, and the carved images, and the molten images.
4 And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence, and the sun images that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherah poles and the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of those who had sacrificed unto them.
5 And he burned 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 Asherah poles, 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 who kept the doors had gathered 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.
10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they gave it to the workmen who wrought in the house of the Lord to repair and mend the house.
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.
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 move it forward, and others of the Levites, all who had skill with instruments of music.
13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all who wrought the work in any manner of service; and of the Levites there were scribes and officers and doorkeepers.
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, saying,
21 “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 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 according to all that is written in this book.”
22 And Hilkiah and those whom the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college), and they spoke to her to that effect.
23 And she answered them, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Tell ye the man who 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 inquire 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 humbled 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 who 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 who 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.
