| 1: Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 5: And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and
cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. |
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| 6: And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and
Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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: |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 18: Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the
priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. |
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| 19: And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the
law, that he rent his clothes. |
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| 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, |
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| 21: Go, inquire 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 23: And she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel,
Tell ye the man that sent you to me, |
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| 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: |
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| 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. |
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| 26: And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the
LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel
concerning the words which thou hast heard; |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 29: Then the king sent and gathered together all the
elders of Judah and Jerusalem. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
