^22:3In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders:⁵^22:4“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down⁶ the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door. ^22:5Have them hand it over to the construction foremen⁷ assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn should pay the temple workers to repair it,⁸^22:6including craftsmen, builders, and masons, and should buy wood and chiseled stone for the repair work.⁹^22:7Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.”¹⁰

^22:8Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. ^22:9Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported,¹¹ “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple¹² and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.” ^22:10Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king. ^22:11When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes. ^22:12The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, ^22:13“Go, seek an oracle from¹³ the Lord for me and the people—for all Judah. Find out about¹⁴ the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us,¹⁵ because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.”¹⁶

^22:14So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe.¹⁷ (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh¹⁸ district.) They stated their business,¹⁹

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Footnotes

5 Heb “with these orders, saying.”
6 The has וְיַתֵּם (véyattem), “and let them add up” (Hiphil of תָּמָם [tammam], “be complete”), but the appearance of הִתִּיכוּ (hitikhu), “they melted down” (Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh], “pour out”) in v. 9 suggests that the verb form should be emended to וְיַתֵּךְ (véyattekh), “and let him melt down” (a Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh]). For a discussion of this and other options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
7 Heb “doers of the work.”
8 Heb “and let them give it to the doers of the work who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages to the house.”
9 Heb “and to buy wood and chiseled stone to repair the house.”
10 Heb “only the silver that is given into their hand should not be reckoned with them, for in faithfulness they are acting.”
11 Heb “returned the king a word and said.”
12 Heb “that was found in the house.”
13 Or “inquire of.”
14 Heb “concerning.”
15 Heb “for great is the anger of the Lord which has been ignited against us.”
16 Heb “by doing all that is written concerning us.” Perhaps עָלֵינוּ (’alenu), “concerning us,” should be altered to עָלָיו (’alav), “upon it,” in which case one could translate, “by doing all that is written in it.”
17 Heb “the keeper of the clothes.”
18 Or “second.” For a discussion of the possible location of this district, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
19 Heb “and they spoke to her.”