Chapters
2 Chronicles (36 chapters)
2 Chronicles 34
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.