2 Chronicles 34:8–20

JOSIAH’S REPAIR OF THE TEMPLE

⁸In the eighteenth year of his reign,^a in order to cleanse the land and the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, along with Maaseiah the governor^b of the city and the court historian Joah son of Joahaz, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.

⁹So they went to the high priest Hilkiah^c and gave him the silver brought into God’s temple. The Levites and the doorkeepers had collected it from Manasseh, Ephraim,^d and from the entire remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They gave it to those doing the work—those who oversaw the Lord’s temple. They gave it to the workmen who were working in the Lord’s temple, to repair and restore the temple; ¹¹they gave it to the carpenters and builders and also used it to buy quarried stone and timbers—for joining and making beams—for the buildings that Judah’s kings had destroyed.

¹²The men were doing the work with integrity. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites as supervisors. The Levites were all skilled with musical instruments.^{e 13}They were also over the porters and were supervising all those doing the work task by task. Some of the Levites were secretaries, officers, and gatekeepers.

THE RECOVERY OF THE BOOK OF THE LAW

¹⁴When they brought out the silver that had been deposited in the Lord’s temple, the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord written by the hand of Moses.^{f 15}Consequently,^g Hilkiah told the court secretary Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the Lord’s temple,” and he gave the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶Shaphan took the book to the king, and also reported, “Your servants are doing all that was placed in their hands. ¹⁷They have emptied out the silver that was found in the Lord’s temple and have given it to the overseers and to those doing the work.” ¹⁸Then the court secretary Shaphan told the king, “The priest Hilkiah gave me a book,” and Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.^h

¹⁹When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.^{i 20}Then he commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, the court secretary Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah,