2 Chronicles Chapter 34    

¹Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.
  ²He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh and walked in the ways of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
 

³And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the shrines and the Asherah poles and the carved images and the cast metal images.
  ⁴They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the incense altars that were high above them, and he broke in pieces the Asherah poles and the carved images and the cast metal images and made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
  ⁵He burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
  ⁶And in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali—in their ruins all around—
  ⁷he broke down the altars and beat the Asherah poles and the carved images into powder. He cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
 

⁸Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house of God, 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 Yahweh his God.
 

⁹They came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the guards of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
  ¹⁰They delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh and the workmen who were working in the house of Yahweh to repair and restore the house;
  ¹¹that is, they gave it to the carpenters and to the builders to buy hewn stone and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go into ruin.
 

¹²The men did the work faithfully, and over them, appointed to oversee them, were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites. And some of the Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music,
  ¹³were also over the burden-bearers and over all who did the work in every kind of service. And some of the Levites were scribes, and officers, and gatekeepers.
 

¹⁴When they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of Yahweh given by the hand of Moses.
  ¹⁵Hilkiah told Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Yahweh.” And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan.
 

¹⁶Shaphan brought the scroll to the king, and reported to the king, saying, “All that was committed to your servants, they are doing.
  ¹⁷They have emptied out the money^a that was present in the house of Yahweh and have given it into the hand of the overseers and into the hand of the workmen.”
  ¹⁸Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
 

¹⁹And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.
  ²⁰The king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,
  ²¹“Go inquire of Yahweh for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the scroll that has been found, for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh to do according to everything that is written in this scroll.”
 

²²So Hilkiah and those whom the king had commanded, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. And she lived in Jerusalem in the second district, and they spoke to her regarding this.
 

²³She said to them, “This is what Yahweh the God of Israel says: ‘Say to the man who sent you to me,
  ²⁴“This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the scroll that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah.
  ²⁵Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, making me angry by all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched.’
  ²⁶But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, you are to say this to him: This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: As for the words that you have heard,
  ²⁷because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you,” says Yahweh.
  ²⁸“Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace so that your eyes will not see all the evil that I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.” And they brought back this message to the king.
 

²⁹Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
  ³⁰The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites and all the people, both great and small, and he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of Yahweh.
  ³¹The king stood in his place and cut a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
 

³²And he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand with him. And all the inhabitants of Jerusalem carried out the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
 

³³And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the territory that belonged to the children of Israel and made all who were present in Israel to serve—to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they did not depart from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers.