Covenant Renewal
1So the king sent messengers,23:1 2Ch 34:29–32 and they gathered all the elders23:1 2Kg 10:1 of Judah and Jerusalem to him.
2Then the king went to the Lord’s temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets — all the people from the youngest to the oldest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant23:2 Dt 31:10–13 that had been found in the Lord’s temple.23:2 2Kg 22:8
3Next, the king stood by the pillar23:3 2Ch 34:31 reads platform23:3 1Kg 7:15; 2Kg 11:14 and made a covenant23:3 2Kg 11:17 in the Lord’s presence to follow the Lord and to keep his commands, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul23:3 Dt 6:4–6; 13:4 in order to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to23:3 Lit people took a stand in the covenant.23:3 Ex 24:3–8; Jos 24:14–28
Josiah’s Reforms
4Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiah23:4 2Kg 22:8,14 and the priests of the second rank23:4 2Kg 25:18; Jr 35:4; 52:24 and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord’s sanctuary all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the stars in the sky.23:4 2Kg 21:3,7; 2Ch 33:3 He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.23:4 2Kg 23:15
5Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places23:5 2Kg 16:4 in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and all the stars in the sky.23:5 2Kg 21:3
6He brought out the Asherah pole23:6 1Kg 14:15,23; 2Kg 18:4; 21:7 from the Lord’s temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley,23:6 1Kg 15:13 beat it to dust,23:6 2Kg 23:15 and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.23:6 Lit the sons of the people23:6 2Ch 34:4; Jr 26:23
8Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places23:8 2Kg 18:4 from Geba23:8 Jos 21:17; 1Kg 15:22 to Beer-sheba,23:8 1Sm 3:20 where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the city gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).
9The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.23:9 Ezk 44:10–14
12The king tore down the altars that the kings of Judah had made on the roof23:12 Jr 19:13; Zph 1:4–5 of Ahaz’s upper chamber.23:12 2Kg 20:11 He also tore down the altars that Manasseh had made23:12 2Kg 21:5; 2Ch 33:5 in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. Then he smashed them23:12 Text emended; MT reads he ran from there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.
13The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abhorrent idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.23:13 1Kg 11:5–8
15He even tore down the altar at Bethel23:15 1Kg 13:1–3 and the high place23:15 1Kg 12:28–33 that had been made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.23:15 2Kg 23:6
16As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mountain. He sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar.23:16 2Ch 34:5 He defiled it according to the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God23:16 LXX adds when Jeroboam stood by the altar of the feast. And he turned and raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of God who proclaimed these things.23:16 1Kg 13:2
17Then he said, “What is this monument I see?”
The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar at Bethel.”23:17 1Kg 13:1,31–32
18So he said, “Let him rest. Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.23:18 1Kg 13:29–31
19Josiah also removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to anger the Lord.23:19 2Ch 34:6–7 Josiah did the same things to them that he had done at Bethel.
Passover Observed
21The king commanded all the people, “Observe the Passover of the Lord your God as written in the book of the covenant.”23:21 Nm 9:1–14; Dt 16:1–8; 2Ch 35:1–6
22No such Passover had ever been observed from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
23But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the Lord’s Passover was observed in Jerusalem.23:22–23 2Ch 35:18–19
Further Zeal for the Lord
24In addition, Josiah eradicated the mediums, the spiritists,23:24 Lv 19:31; 2Kg 21:6 household idols,23:24 Gn 31:19 images, and all the abhorrent things23:24 Dt 7:26; 2Kg 16:3 that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this in order to carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the Lord’s temple.23:24 2Kg 22:8; 23:2–3
26In spite of all that, the Lord did not turn from the fury of his intense burning anger, which burned against Judah because of all the affronts with which Manasseh had angered him.23:26 2Kg 21:11–13; Jr 15:4
27For the Lord had said, “I will also remove Judah from my presence just as I have removed Israel.23:27 2Kg 18:11–12 I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”23:27 Dt 12:11; 1Kg 9:3; 2Kg 21:4
Josiah’s Death
28The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign,23:28–30 2Ch 35:20–27 along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.
29During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt23:29 Jr 46:2 marched up to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to confront him, and at Megiddo23:29 Jdg 5:19 when Neco saw him he killed him.
30From Megiddo his servants carried his dead body in a chariot, brought him into Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb.23:30 2Kg 9:28 Then the common people23:30 Lit the people of the land, also in v. 35 took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.23:30 2Ch 36:1
Judah’s King Jehoahaz
31Jehoahaz23:31 1Ch 3:15; Jr 22:11 was23:31–33 2Ch 36:2–3 twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal23:31 2Kg 24:18 daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.
Judah’s King Jehoiakim
34Then23:34–37 2Ch 36:4–5 Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim23:34 1Ch 3:15 son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim.23:34 2Kg 24:17; 2Ch 36:4 But Neco took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.23:34 Jr 22:11–12; Ezk 19:3–4
35So Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but at Pharaoh’s command he taxed the land to give it. He exacted the silver and the gold from the common people, each according to his assessment,23:35 Ex 30:12–16; Lv 27:2–8 to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.
37He did what was evil23:37 Jr 22:13–19; 36:1–26 in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestors had done.
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