Josiah in the Bible

Meaning: the Lord burns; the fire of the Lord

Exact Match

And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,

Shaphan the scribe reported to King Josiah, brought up the matter to him, and told him, "Your servants have distributed the money that was found in the Temple by giving it to the workmen who supervise the LORD's Temple."

“Therefore, behold, [King Josiah,] I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be taken to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil (catastrophe) which I will bring on this place.”’” So they brought back word to the king. Cross references: 2 Kings 22:4 : 2 Kin 12:4 end of crossrefs

King Josiah sent word and they brought to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

Josiah brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, and burned it there, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people [who had sacrificed to it].

Then Josiah brought all the [idolatrous] priests from the cities of Judah, and desecrated the high places where the priests had burned incense [to idols], from Geba to Beersheba, [that is, north to south]; and he tore down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate.

Josiah also defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), so that no man could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire [as a burnt offering] for Molech.

Moreover, the altar which [was] in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, had built, even that altar and the high place, [Josiah] tore down. Then he burned down the high place and crushed [the] pole of Asherah worship to dust and burned it with fire.

And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

Then Josiah said, “What is this monument (gravestone) that I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

So Josiah said, "Let him rest and let no man move his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

Before him there was no king like Josiah who turned to the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, in accordance with all the Law of Moses; nor did anyone like him arise after him.

Now 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 Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.

The people of the land took Josiah's son Jehoahaz, anointed him, and installed him as king in his father's place. Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.

And the sons of Josiah were, the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.

But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images.

Then Josiah burned the bones of the [pagan] priests on their altars and purged and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, when he had purged the land and the [Lord’s] house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder (secretary), to repair the house of the Lord his God.

But you shall say the following to King Josiah of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, concerning the words which you have heard,

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.

Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance.

So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

But Neco sent messengers to Josiah, saying, “What business do we have with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you.”

Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.

His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.

To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with her whole heart, but rather in [blatant] deception [she merely pretended obedience to King Josiah’s reforms],” declares the Lord.

For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:


“Do you think that you become a king because you have much more cedar [in your palace than Solomon]?
Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank,
Do just and righteous acts [being upright and in right standing with God]?
Then all was well with him.

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;

From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.

And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;

In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of [the city of] Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo [over beloved King Josiah].

Thematic Bible



and thy heart became tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD when thou didst hear what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become desolate and cursed, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.


And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel.


And the king cast down the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD and made haste and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

And he brought out the graven image of the grove from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder of it upon the graves of the sons of the people.


Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. 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. 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 graven images and the molten images.


and thy heart became tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD when thou didst hear what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become desolate and cursed, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.


And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, that they would walk after the LORD and keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in that book. And all the people confirmed the covenant.


and thy heart became tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD when thou didst hear what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become desolate and cursed, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.


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 graven images and the molten images.

And he broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves and filled their places with the bones of men.

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 of the sun throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

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 graven images and the molten images. And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the images of the sun, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves and the graven images and the molten images, he broke in pieces and made dust of them and scattered it upon the graves of those that had sacrificed unto them.


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 graven images and the molten images.

And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.


and thy heart became tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, hearing his words against this place and against its inhabitants and didst humble thyself before me and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me, I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.


and thy heart became tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, hearing his words against this place and against its inhabitants and didst humble thyself before me and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me, I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.


and thy heart became tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, hearing his words against this place and against its inhabitants and didst humble thyself before me and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me, I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.


and thy heart became tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, hearing his words against this place and against its inhabitants and didst humble thyself before me and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me, I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.


And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel. And he put down the religious persons whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem; likewise, those that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the graven image of the grove from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder of it upon the graves of the sons of the people. read more.
He likewise broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were by the house of the LORD where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. And he defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech, the chamberlain who was in charge of the Parbar, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the king cast down the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD and made haste and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. Likewise, the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built unto Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and unto Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and unto Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon. And he broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves and filled their places with the bones of men. Likewise, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made: both that altar and the high place he broke down and burned the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres and burned them upon the altar and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who had proclaimed these words. Then he said, What title is this that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him alone; let no one move his bones. So his bones were saved along with the bones of the prophet that had come out of Samaria. And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem.


And he put down the religious persons whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem; likewise, those that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.



But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

And as for the people whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, left in the land of Judah, he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over them. And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of Maachathi, they and their men.

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

And all the princes of the army which were in the field, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor over the land and had committed unto him the men and the women and the children and the poor of the land, those that were not carried away captive to Babylon; then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. read more.
As for me, behold, I dwell in Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us; but ye, gather ye the wine and the bread and the oil and put them in your vessels and dwell in your cities that ye have taken. Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and that were in all the lands heard how the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, all these Jews returned out of all places where they were driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah in Mizpah, and gathered wine and much fruit.

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.


And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his father's brother, king in his stead and changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. read more.
For the anger of the LORD was against Jerusalem and Judah until he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah, the prophet, who spoke unto him from the mouth of the LORD. He rebelled, likewise, against King Nebuchadnezzar, unto whom he had sworn by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel. read more.
Moreover, all the princes of the priests and the people increased the rebellion, rebelling according to all the abominations of the Gentiles and polluting the house of the LORD which he had sanctified in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by the hand of his messengers, rising up early, and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, and there was no remedy. Therefore, he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age; he gave them all into his hands. Likewise, all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burnt all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its desirable vessels. And those that escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; where they were slaves to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had fulfilled her sabbaths; for all the time of her desolation she rested until the seventy years were fulfilled.


And Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD chose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to anger more than all that their fathers had done in their sins which they committed. For they also built themselves high places and statues, and groves on every high hill and under every green tree. read more.
And there were also male cult prostitutes in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the Gentiles which the LORD had cast out before the sons of Israel. And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house; he took it all away, and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And King Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. And when the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard bore them and brought them back afterward into the guard chamber. Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. And Abijam, his son, reigned in his stead.


And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, that they would walk after the LORD and keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in that book. And all the people confirmed the covenant. read more.
And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel. And he put down the religious persons whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem; likewise, those that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the graven image of the grove from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder of it upon the graves of the sons of the people. He likewise broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were by the house of the LORD where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. And he defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech, the chamberlain who was in charge of the Parbar, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the king cast down the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD and made haste and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. Likewise, the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built unto Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and unto Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and unto Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon. And he broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves and filled their places with the bones of men. Likewise, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made: both that altar and the high place he broke down and burned the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres and burned them upon the altar and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who had proclaimed these words. Then he said, What title is this that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him alone; let no one move his bones. So his bones were saved along with the bones of the prophet that had come out of Samaria. And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem. Then the king commanded all the people, saying, Make the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Such a passover had not been made since the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah. In the year eighteen of King Josiah, this passover was made unto the LORD in Jerusalem. In the same manner Josiah burned the spiritists, the diviners, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. There was no king before him that converted like this to the LORD with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither did any like him arise after him. Even with all this the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him to wrath. And the LORD said, I must also remove Judah out of my sight as I have removed Israel, and I must reject this city Jerusalem which I had chosen and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. Now 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 Pharaohnechoh, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him; but as soon as he saw him, he slew him at Megiddo. And his slaves carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own sepulchre. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him and made him king in his father's stead.


Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

Then the people of the land slew all those that had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his stead. Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah, his son, reigned in his stead.

Amon, his son; Josiah, his son.

But the people of the land slew all those that had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his stead.


After all this, when Josiah had prepared the house, Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I do not come against thee this day, but against the house that makes war with me, for God commanded me to make haste. Forbear from meddling with God, who is with me, that he not destroy thee. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and did not hearken unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight him in the valley of Megiddo. read more.
And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his slaves, Take me away, for I am sore wounded. His slaves, therefore, took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

In his days Pharaohnechoh, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him; but as soon as he saw him, he slew him at Megiddo. And his slaves carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own sepulchre. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him and made him king in his father's stead.


Then Hilkiah, the high priest, said unto Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan, the scribe, came to the king and brought the king word again and said, Thy slaves have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of those that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. Likewise, Shaphan, the scribe, declared unto the king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest, has delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. read more.
And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Achbor, the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan, the scribe, and Asahiah, a slave of the king's, saying, Go and enquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. So Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asahiah went unto Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe, who dwelt in Jerusalem in the house of doctrine; and they spoke with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read, 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 is kindled against this place and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah who sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Because thou didst hear the words of the book, and thy heart became tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD when thou didst hear what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become desolate and cursed, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

And when they brought out the money that had been brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah, the priest, found the book of the law of the LORD given by the hand of Moses. 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. And Shaphan carried the book to the king and brought the king word back again, saying, Thy slaves have fulfilled all that was committed unto them to do. read more.
And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD and have delivered it into the hand of those who were commissioned and to the hand of the workmen. Then Shaphan, the scribe, told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest, has given me a book. And Shaphan read in it before the king. And when the king heard the words of the law, he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Abdon, the son of Micah, and Shaphan, the scribe, and Asaiah, a slave of the king's, saying, Go, enquire of the LORD for me and for the remnant of Israel and of 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 according to all the things that are written in this book. Then Hilkiah and those of the king 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 house of doctrine); and they spoke to her to that effect. And she answered them, The LORD God of Israel hath said thus, Tell the man that sent you to me, that thus hath the LORD said, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah because they have forsaken me and have sacrificed unto other gods, provoking 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. But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said, Because thou hast heard the words of the book, and thy heart became tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, hearing his words against this place and against its inhabitants and didst humble thyself before me and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me, I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace; neither shall thy 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. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and with him 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. And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and that they would keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and with all their soul to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. 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. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the lands that pertained to the sons of Israel and made all that were present in Israel serve the LORD their God only. And all his days they did not depart from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.


Then the king commanded all the people, saying, Make the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Such a passover had not been made since the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah. In the year eighteen of King Josiah, this passover was made unto the LORD in Jerusalem.

Moreover, Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he set the priests in their charges and confirmed them in the ministry of the house of the LORD and said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, who were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, built, that ye not carry it any longer upon your shoulders; serve now the LORD your God and his people Israel read more.
and prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David, king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon, his son. And stand in the sanctuary according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren, the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites. So kill the passover and sanctify yourselves and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses. And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks; these were of the king's substance. And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred oxen. Conaniah, likewise, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, princes of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for the sacrifices of the passover five thousand sheep, and five hundred oxen. So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites, likewise, in their courses, according to the king's commandment. And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood taken from the hands of the Levites who flayed them. And they took away part of the animals that they had for the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, for them to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And they did, likewise, with the oxen. And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance, but that which had been sanctified, they cooked in pots and in caldrons and in pans and divided them speedily among all the people. And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were occupied in the sacrifice of the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore, the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. Likewise, the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; it was not necessary for them to depart from their ministry, for their brethren, the Levites, prepared for them. So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover and to sacrifice the burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of King Josiah. And the sons of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time and the solemn feast of unleavened bread for seven days. And there was no passover like unto that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel, the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel that were present, together with all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the year eighteen of the reign of Josiah, this passover was kept.


And in the year eighteen of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may sum the silver which has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people; and let them deliver it into the hands of those that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to those that do the work in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, read more.
unto carpenters and builders and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house; and there is to be no accounting required of those unto whom the money is delivered because they deal faithfully.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. 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. 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 graven images and the molten images. read more.
And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the images of the sun, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves and the graven images and the molten images, he broke in pieces and made dust of them and scattered it upon the graves of those that had sacrificed unto them.


And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, that they would walk after the LORD and keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in that book. And all the people confirmed the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel. And he put down the religious persons whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem; likewise, those that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. read more.
And he brought out the graven image of the grove from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder of it upon the graves of the sons of the people. He likewise broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were by the house of the LORD where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. And he defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech, the chamberlain who was in charge of the Parbar, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the king cast down the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD and made haste and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. Likewise, the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built unto Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and unto Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and unto Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon. And he broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves and filled their places with the bones of men. Likewise, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made: both that altar and the high place he broke down and burned the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres and burned them upon the altar and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who had proclaimed these words. Then he said, What title is this that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him alone; let no one move his bones. So his bones were saved along with the bones of the prophet that had come out of Samaria. And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem.

In the same manner Josiah burned the spiritists, the diviners, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. There was no king before him that converted like this to the LORD with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither did any like him arise after him.


Ezekias begat Manasses; Manasses begat Amon; Amon begat Josias; Josias begat Jechonias and his brothers, about the time they were carried away to Babylon;


And, behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel; and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, O altar, altar, thus hath the LORD said: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes with the burnt fat that are upon it shall be poured out.


Ezekias begat Manasses; Manasses begat Amon; Amon begat Josias; Josias begat Jechonias and his brothers, about the time they were carried away to Babylon;


And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel, which are written in the lamentations.


Take of those of that returned from the captivity, of the lineage of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, and come thou the same day and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whom are come from Babylon.


Shalt thou reign, because thou dost enclose thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink and do judgment and righteousness, and then it was well with him?


Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of David, his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. And in the year eighteen of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, read more.
Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may sum the silver which has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people; and let them deliver it into the hands of those that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to those that do the work in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters and builders and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house; and there is to be no accounting required of those unto whom the money is delivered because they deal faithfully. Then Hilkiah, the high priest, said unto Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan, the scribe, came to the king and brought the king word again and said, Thy slaves have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of those that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. Likewise, Shaphan, the scribe, declared unto the king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest, has delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Achbor, the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan, the scribe, and Asahiah, a slave of the king's, saying, Go and enquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. So Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asahiah went unto Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe, who dwelt in Jerusalem in the house of doctrine; and they spoke with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read, 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 is kindled against this place and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah who sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Because thou didst hear the words of the book, and thy heart became tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD when thou didst hear what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become desolate and cursed, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again. And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, that they would walk after the LORD and keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in that book. And all the people confirmed the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel. And he put down the religious persons whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem; likewise, those that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the graven image of the grove from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder of it upon the graves of the sons of the people. He likewise broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were by the house of the LORD where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. And he defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech, the chamberlain who was in charge of the Parbar, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the king cast down the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD and made haste and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. Likewise, the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built unto Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and unto Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and unto Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon. And he broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves and filled their places with the bones of men. Likewise, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made: both that altar and the high place he broke down and burned the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres and burned them upon the altar and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who had proclaimed these words. Then he said, What title is this that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him alone; let no one move his bones. So his bones were saved along with the bones of the prophet that had come out of Samaria. And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem. Then the king commanded all the people, saying, Make the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Such a passover had not been made since the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah. In the year eighteen of King Josiah, this passover was made unto the LORD in Jerusalem. In the same manner Josiah burned the spiritists, the diviners, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. There was no king before him that converted like this to the LORD with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither did any like him arise after him. Even with all this the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him to wrath. And the LORD said, I must also remove Judah out of my sight as I have removed Israel, and I must reject this city Jerusalem which I had chosen and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. Now 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 Pharaohnechoh, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him; but as soon as he saw him, he slew him at Megiddo. And his slaves carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own sepulchre. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him and made him king in his father's stead.


And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of David, his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.


Moreover, Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he set the priests in their charges and confirmed them in the ministry of the house of the LORD and said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, who were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, built, that ye not carry it any longer upon your shoulders; serve now the LORD your God and his people Israel read more.
and prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David, king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon, his son. And stand in the sanctuary according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren, the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites. So kill the passover and sanctify yourselves and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses. And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks; these were of the king's substance. And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred oxen. Conaniah, likewise, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, princes of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for the sacrifices of the passover five thousand sheep, and five hundred oxen. So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites, likewise, in their courses, according to the king's commandment. And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood taken from the hands of the Levites who flayed them. And they took away part of the animals that they had for the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, for them to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And they did, likewise, with the oxen. And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance, but that which had been sanctified, they cooked in pots and in caldrons and in pans and divided them speedily among all the people. And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were occupied in the sacrifice of the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore, the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. Likewise, the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; it was not necessary for them to depart from their ministry, for their brethren, the Levites, prepared for them. So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover and to sacrifice the burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of King Josiah. And the sons of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time and the solemn feast of unleavened bread for seven days. And there was no passover like unto that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel, the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel that were present, together with all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the year eighteen of the reign of Josiah, this passover was kept.

And in the year eighteen of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may sum the silver which has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people; and let them deliver it into the hands of those that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to those that do the work in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, read more.
unto carpenters and builders and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house;

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 writer of chronicles, to repair the house of the LORD his God. And they went to Hilkiah, the high priest, and 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, having then returned to Jerusalem. And they put it in the hand of those that did the work, 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 restore the house. read more.
They also gave to the craftsmen and builders, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and for the woodwork of the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 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 Kohath, to set it forward; and others of the Levites, all those with understanding in instruments of music. 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.


And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of David, his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

In the same manner Josiah burned the spiritists, the diviners, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. There was no king before him that converted like this to the LORD with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither did any like him arise after him.


And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of David, his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.


And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel.



And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel.


Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and with him 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. And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and that they would keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and with all their soul to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. read more.
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. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the lands that pertained to the sons of Israel and made all that were present in Israel serve the LORD their God only. And all his days they did not depart from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.

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 graven images and the molten images. And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the images of the sun, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves and the graven images and the molten images, he broke in pieces and made dust of them and scattered it upon the graves of those that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. read more.
He did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their swords round about. 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 of the sun throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.


And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem.


and thy heart became tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD when thou didst hear what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become desolate and cursed, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.




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 graven images and the molten images.


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 graven images and the molten images.


Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and did not hearken unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight him in the valley of Megiddo.


Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and did not hearken unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight him in the valley of Megiddo.


And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of David, his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.


For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD; thou art my security from my youth.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. 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. 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 graven images and the molten images.


And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem. Then the king commanded all the people, saying, Make the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. read more.
Such a passover had not been made since the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah. In the year eighteen of King Josiah, this passover was made unto the LORD in Jerusalem. In the same manner Josiah burned the spiritists, the diviners, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. There was no king before him that converted like this to the LORD with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither did any like him arise after him.


References

Hastings

Easton

American

Fausets

Morish

Smith

Watsons