2 Kings 22–23

Josiah King of Judah

22Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he ruled thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah, who was from Bozkath. ²Josiah did what the Lord said was right. He lived as his ancestor David had lived, and he did not stop doing what was right.

³In Josiah’s eighteenth year as king, he sent Shaphan to the Temple of the Lord. Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, was the royal secretary. Josiah said, ⁴“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and have him empty out the money the gatekeepers have gathered from the people. This is the money they have brought into the Temple of the Lord. ⁵Have him give the money to the supervisors of the work on the Temple of the Lord. They must pay the workers who repair the Temple of the Lord—⁶the carpenters, builders, and bricklayers. Also use the money to buy timber and cut stone to repair the Temple. ⁷They do not need to report how they use the money given to them, because they are working honestly.”

The Book of the Teachings Is Found

⁸Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the royal secretary, “I’ve found the Book of the Teachings in the Temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.

⁹Then Shaphan the royal secretary went to the king and reported to Josiah, “Your officers have paid out the money that was in the Temple of the Lord. They have given it to the workers and supervisors at the Temple.” ¹⁰Then Shaphan the royal secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from the book to the king.

¹¹When the king heard the words of the Book of the Teachings, he tore his clothes to show how upset he was. ¹²He gave orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the royal secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant. These were the orders: ¹³“Go and ask the Lord about the words in the book that was found. Ask for me, for all the people, and for all Judah. The Lord’s anger is burning against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book; they did not do all the things written for us to do.”

¹⁴So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to talk to Huldah the prophetess. She was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, who took care of the king’s clothes. Huldah lived in Jerusalem, in the new area of the city.

¹⁵She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶‘This is what the Lord says: I will bring trouble to this place and to the people living here, as it is written in the book which the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷The people of Judah have left me and have burned incense to other gods. They have made me angry by all that they have done. My anger burns against this place like a fire, and it will not be put out.’ ¹⁸Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the words you heard: ¹⁹When you heard my words against this place and its people, you became sorry for what you had done and humbled yourself before me. I said they would be cursed and would be destroyed. You tore your clothes to show how upset you were, and you cried in my presence. This is why I have heard you, says the Lord. ²⁰So I will let you die, and you will be buried in peace. You won’t see all the trouble I will bring to this place.’ ”

So they took her message back to the king.

The People Hear the Agreement

23Then the king gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem together. ²He went up to the Temple of the Lord, and all the people from Judah and Jerusalem went with him. The priests, prophets, and all the people—from the least important to the most important—went with him. He read to them all the words of the Book of the Agreement that was found in the Temple of the Lord. ³The king stood by the pillar and made an agreement in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and obey his commands, rules, and laws with his whole being, and to obey the words of the agreement written in this book. Then all the people promised to obey the agreement.

Josiah Destroys the Places for Idol Worship

⁴The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the next rank and the gatekeepers to bring out of the Temple of the Lord everything made for Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. Then Josiah burned them outside Jerusalem in the open country of the Kidron Valley and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵The kings of Judah had chosen priests for these gods. These priests burned incense in the places where gods were worshiped in the cities of Judah and the towns around Jerusalem. They burned incense to Baal, the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the stars of the sky. But Josiah took those priests away. ⁶He removed the Asherah idol from the Temple of the Lord and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it and beat it into dust. Then he threw the dust on the graves of the common people. ⁷He also tore down the houses of the male prostitutes who were in the Temple of the Lord, where the women did weaving for Asherah.

⁸King Josiah brought all the false priests from the cities of Judah. He ruined the places where gods were worshiped, where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the places of worship at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the ruler of the city, on the left side of the city gate. ⁹The priests at the places where gods were worshiped were not allowed to serve at the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem. But they could eat bread made without yeast with their brothers.

¹⁰Josiah ruined Topheth, in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could sacrifice his son or daughter to Molech. ¹¹Judah’s kings had placed horses at the front door of the Temple of the Lord in the courtyard near the room of Nathan-Melech, an officer. These horses were for the worship of the sun. So Josiah removed them and burned the chariots that were for sun worship also.

¹²The kings of Judah had built altars on the roof ⁿ of the upstairs room of Ahaz. Josiah broke down these altars and the altars Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the Temple of the Lord. Josiah smashed them to pieces and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley. ¹³King Josiah ruined the places where gods were worshiped east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives. ⁿ Solomon king of Israel had built these places. One was for Ashtoreth, the hated goddess of the Sidonians. One was for Chemosh, the hated god of Moab. And one was for Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. ¹⁴Josiah smashed to pieces the stone pillars they worshiped, and he cut down the Asherah idols. Then he covered the places with human bones.

¹⁵Josiah also broke down the altar at Bethel—the place of worship made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had led Israel to sin. Josiah burned that place, broke the stones of the altar into pieces, then beat them into dust. He also burned the Asherah idol. ¹⁶When he turned around, he saw the graves on the mountain. He had the bones taken from the graves, and he burned them on the altar to ruin it. This happened as the Lord had said it would through the man of God.

¹⁷Josiah asked, “What is that monument I see?”

The people of the city answered, “It’s the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. This prophet announced the things you have done against the altar of Bethel.”

¹⁸Josiah said, “Leave the grave alone. No one may move this man’s bones.” So they left his bones and the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

¹⁹The kings of Israel had built temples for worshiping gods in the cities of Samaria, which had caused the Lord to be angry. Josiah removed all those temples and did the same things as he had done at Bethel. ²⁰He killed all the priests of those places of worship; he killed them on the altars and burned human bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

Josiah Celebrates the Passover

²¹The king commanded all the people, “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this Book of the Agreement.” ²²The Passover had not been celebrated like this since the judges led Israel. Nor had one like it happened while there were kings of Israel and kings of Judah. ²³This Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s rule.

²⁴Josiah destroyed the mediums, fortune-tellers, house gods, and idols. He also destroyed all the hated gods seen in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. This was to obey the words of the teachings written in the book Hilkiah the priest had found in the Temple of the Lord.

²⁵There was no king like Josiah before or after him. He obeyed the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength, following all the Teachings of Moses.

²⁶Even so, the Lord did not stop his strong and terrible anger. His anger burned against Judah because of all Manasseh had done to make him angry. ²⁷The Lord said, “I will send Judah out of my sight, as I have sent Israel away. I will reject Jerusalem, which I chose. And I will take away the Temple about which I said, ‘I will be worshiped there.’ ”

²⁸Everything else Josiah did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah.

²⁹While Josiah was king, Neco king of Egypt went to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah marched out to fight against Neco, but at Megiddo, Neco faced him and killed him. ³⁰Josiah’s servants carried his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own grave. Then the people of Judah chose Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and poured olive oil on him to make him king in his father’s place.

Jehoahaz King of Judah

³¹Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal, who was the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³²Jehoahaz did what the Lord said was wrong, just as his ancestors had done.

³³King Neco took Jehoahaz prisoner at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that…