The Second Book of Chronicles (WEB)
34: 1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in
Jerusalem. 34:2He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in the ways of David
his father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 34:3For 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 Asherim, and the engraved
images, and the molten images. 34:4They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the
sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the engraved
images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the
graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 34:5He burnt the bones of the priests on their altars, and
purged Judah and Jerusalem. 34:6So did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even
to Naphtali, in their ruins round about. 34:7He broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the
engraved images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of
Israel, and returned to Jerusalem. 34:8Now 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 Yahweh his God. 34:9They came to
Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which
the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and
of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
34:10They delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh;
and the workmen who labored in the house of Yahweh gave it to mend and repair the house;
34:11even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for
couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 34:12The 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
others of the Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music. 34:13Also they were over the
bearers of burdens, and set forward all who did the work in every manner of service: and of the
Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters. 34:14When they brought out the money that was
brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Yahweh given
by Moses. 34:15Hilkiah answered Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house
of Yahweh. Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. 34:16Shaphan carried the book to the king, and
moreover brought back word to the king, saying, All that was committed to your servants, they are
doing. 34:17They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Yahweh, and have
delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen. 34:18Shaphan the
scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book. Shaphan read therein
before the king. 34:19It happened, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he tore his
clothes. 34:20The 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, 34:21Go you, inquire of
Yahweh 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 Yahweh that is poured out on us, because our fathers
have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do according to all that is written in this book. 34:22So
Hilkiah, and they 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; (now she lived in
Jerusalem in the second quarter;) and they spoke to her to that effect. 34:23She said to them, Thus
says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Tell you the man who sent you to me, 34:24Thus says Yahweh,
Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on the inhabitants of it, even all the curses that are
written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. 34:25Because 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 is my wrath poured out on this place, and it shall not be quenched.
34:26But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus shall you tell him, Thus says
Yahweh, the God of Israel: As touching the words which you have heard, 34:27because your heart
was tender, and you did humble yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place,
and against the inhabitants of it, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your
clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you, says Yahweh. 34:28Behold, I will gather you to
your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the
evil that I will bring on this place, and on the inhabitants of it. They brought back word to the
king. 34:29Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 34:30The
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 was found in the house of Yahweh. 34:31The king
stood in his place, and made 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
perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 34:32He caused all who were
found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the
covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 34:33Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the
countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve,
even to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they didn't depart from following Yahweh, the God
of their fathers.
World English Bible