23
1 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from the small to the great: and he read before their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. 3 And the king stood upon the stand, and he made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies and his statutes with all [their] heart and all [their] soul, to maintain the words of this covenant that are written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant. 4 And the king commanded Chilkiyahu the high-priest, and the priests of the second order, and the door-keepers, to carry forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that had been made for Ba'al, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven: and they burnt them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes unto Beth-el. 5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed that they might burn incense on the high-places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; those also that burnt incense unto Ba'al, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. 6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burnt it at the brook Kidron, and ground it small to powder, and cast its powder upon the graves of the children of the people. 7 And he pulled down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high-places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba' to Beer-Sheba', and he pulled down the high-places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left at the gate of the city. 9 Nevertheless the priests of the high-places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; but they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their brethren. 10 And he defiled the Thopheth, which was in the valley Ben-hinnom, so that no man should cause his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. 11 And he put down the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, from the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nethan-melech the chamberlain, who was over the suburbs; and the chariots of the sun he burnt with fire. 12 And the altars that were on the roof of the upper-chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Menasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king pull down, and tore them away from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron. 13 And the high-places that were before Jerusalem, which were to the right of the mount of destruction, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for 'Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Kemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of 'Ammon, did the king defile. 14 And he broke in pieces the standing images, and cut down the Asherah-groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. 15 So also the altar that was at Beth-el, the high-place which Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, who induced Israel to sin, had made,—also that altar and the high-place did he pull down; and he burnt the high-place, ground it small to powder, and burnt then the Asherah. 16 And Josiah turned about, and beheld the graves that were there in the mount, and he sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burnt them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who had proclaimed these events. 17 Then said he, What kind of monument is that which I see? And the men of the city said to him, It is the grave of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things which thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el. 18 And he said, Let him rest: no man shall disturb his bones. So they saved his bones, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. 19 And also all the houses of the high-places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made as provocations to anger, did Josiah remove, and did to them in accordance with all the acts that he had done in Beth-el. 20 And he slaughtered all the priests of the high-places that were there upon the altars, and burnt men's bones upon them, and returned [then] to Jerusalem. 21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant. 22 For there had not been holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel; nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah; 23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this passover holden to the Lord in Jerusalem. 24 And also the men of familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were to be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah clear away; in order that he might accomplish the words of the law which were written in the book that Chilkiyahu the priest had found in the house of the Lord. 25 And like unto him there was no king before him, that returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; and after him there arose none like him. 26 Notwithstanding this the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great anger, since his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provokings wherewith Menasseh had provoked him to anger. 27 And the Lord said, Also Judah will I remove out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 29 In his days went up Pharaoh-nechoh the king of Egypt against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he saw him. 30 And his servants carried him dying in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoachaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. 31 Twenty and three years old was Jehoachaz when he became king; and three months did he reign in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Chamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, all just as his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in fetters at Riblah in the land of Chamath, that he should not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed a fine on the land of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh-nechoh made Elyakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoyakim, and took Jehoachaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there. 35 And Jehoyakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money by the order of Pharaoh: from every one according to his estimation did he exact the silver and gold from the people of the land, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh. 36 Twenty and five years old was Jehoyakim when he became king; and eleven years did be reign in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedayah of Rumah. 37 And he did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, all just as his fathers had done.