Josiah Renews the Covenant
And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and every man of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets, and all the people, from small to great; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.
And the king stood by the pillar and cut the covenant before the LORD — to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all the heart and with all the soul, to uphold the words of this covenant written in this book. And all the people stood in the covenant.
Josiah Destroys Idolatry
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for the Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens; and he burned them outside Jerusalem, in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
And he put an end to the idol-priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed — and one burned incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and the surroundings of Jerusalem — and those burning incense to the Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations, and to all the host of the heavens.
And he brought out the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the ravine of the Kidron; and he burned it in the ravine of the Kidron, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the sons of the people.
And he tore down the houses of the cult prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women were weaving coverings for the Asherah.
And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he tore 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.
Only, the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem — but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.
And he defiled the Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no man could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
And he put an end to the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the eunuch, which was in the precincts; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.
And the altars that were on the roof — the upper chamber of Ahaz — which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king tore down; and he crushed them there, and threw their dust into the ravine of the Kidron.
And the high places that were facing Jerusalem, which were to the right of the Mount of Destruction, which Solomon, king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the detestable thing of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon — the king defiled.
And he shattered the standing stones and cut down the Asherah poles; and he filled their places with human bones.
And even the altar that was at Bethel — the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat had made, who caused Israel to sin — even that altar and the high place he tore down; and he burned the high place, ground it to dust, and burned the Asherah pole.
And Josiah turned and saw the graves that were there on the mountain; and he sent and took the bones from the graves, and burned them on the altar and defiled it — according to the word of the LORD that the man of God had proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
And he said, “What is that marker that I see?” And the men of the city said to him, “The grave of the man of God who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
And he said, “Let him rest. Let no man disturb his bones.” So they left his bones untouched, with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
And also all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke — Josiah removed; and he did to them according to all the deeds that he had done at Bethel.
And he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. And he returned to Jerusalem.
Josiah Restores the Passover
And the king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep a Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.”
For no Passover like this one had been kept from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah;
but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the LORD, in Jerusalem.
And also the spirits of the dead, and the familiar spirits, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah burned away — so as to uphold the words of the instruction written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.
And like him there was no king before him, who turned back to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the instruction of Moses; and after him none arose like him.
Yet the LORD did not turn back from the burning of his great anger — for his anger burned against Judah on account of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.
And the LORD said: “Even Judah I will remove from my face, as I removed Israel; and I will reject this city that I chose — Jerusalem — and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
The Death of Josiah
And the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did — are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
In his days Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria, to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went to meet him. And he put him to death at Megiddo, when he saw him.
And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.
Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
And he did the evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
And Pharaoh Neco bound him at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem; and he laid a fine on the land — a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Jehoahaz he took — and he came to Egypt, and died there.
And the silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh — only, he assessed the land to give the silver at Pharaoh’s command. Each man according to his valuation, he exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh Neco.
Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah.
And he did the evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.