23:1 So they reported the word to the king:
and the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to
himself.
23:2 And the king went up to the house of Yehovah, and every man of Judah
and all who dwelt in Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets,
and all the people small and great; and he read in their ears all the words
of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of Yehovah.
23:3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before Yehovah, to
walk after Yehovah, to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his
ordinances with all the heart and with all the soul, to confirm the words of
this covenant; [even] the things written in this book. And all the people
stood to the covenant.
23:4 And the king commanded Chelcias the high priest, and the priests of the
second order, and them that kept the door, to bring out of the temple of the
Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and all the
host of heaven, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kedron,
and took the ashes of them to Baethel.
23:5 And he burned the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah [had]
appointed, (and they burned incense in the high places and in the cities of
Judah, and the places around about Jerusalem); and them that burned incense
to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to Mazuroth, and to all the
host of heaven.
23:6 And he carried out the grove from the house of Yehovah to the brook
Kedron, and burned it at the brook Kedron, and reduced it to powder, and
cast its powder on the sepulchres of the sons of the people.
23:7 And he pulled down the house of the sodomites that were by the house of
Yehovah, where the women wove tents for the grove.
23:8 And he brought up all the priest from the cities of Judah, and defiled
the high places where the priests burned incense, from Gaebal even to
Bersabee; and he pulled down the house of the gates that was by the door of
the gate of Joshua the ruler of the city, on a man's left hand at the gate
of the city.
23:9 Only the priests of the high places went not up to the altar of the
Lord in Jerusalem, for they only ate leavened bread in the midst of their
brethren.
23:10 And he defiled Tapheth which is in the valley of the son of Ennom,
[constructed] for a man to cause his son or his daughter to pass through
fire to Moloch.
23:11 And he burned the horses which the king of Judah had given to the sun
in the entrance of the house of Yehovah, by the treasury of Nathan the
king's eunuch, in the suburbs; and he burned the chariot of the sun with
fire.
23:12 And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz,
which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasses had made in
the two courts of the house of Yehovah, did the king pull down and forcibly
remove from thence, and cast their dust into the brook of Kedron.
23:13 And the king defiled the house that was before Jerusalem, on the right
hand of the mount of Mosthath, which Solomon king of Israel built to Astarte
the abomination of the Sidonians, and to Chamos the abomination of Moab, and
to Moloch the abomination of the children of Ammon.
23:14 And he broke in pieces the pillars, and utterly destroyed the groves,
and filled their places with the bones of men.
23:15 Also the high altar in Baethel, which Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who
made Israel to sin, had made, even that high altar he tore down, and broke
in pieces the stones of it, and reduced it to powder, and burnt the grove.
23:16 And Josias turned aside, and saw the tombs that were there in the
city, and sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burnt them on the
altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Yehovah which the man of
Elohim spoke, when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the feast: and he turned and
raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of Elohim that spoke these words.
23:17 And he said, What [is] that mound which I see? And the men of the city
said to him, [It is the grave of] the man of Elohim that came out of Judah, and
uttered these imprecations which he imprecated upon the altar of Baethel.
23:18 And he said, Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones. So his bones
were spared, together with the bones of the prophet that came out of
Samaria.
23:19 Moreover Josias removed all the houses of the high places that were in
the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel made to provoke Yehovah,
and did to them all that he did in Baethel.
23:20 And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places that were there
on the altars, and burnt the bones of men upon them, and returned to
Jerusalem.
23:21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover to
Yehovah your Elohim, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
23:22 For a passover [such as] this had not been kept from the days of the
judges who judged Israel, even all the days of the kings of Israel, and of
the kings of Judah.
23:23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josias, was the passover kept to
Yehovah in Jerusalem.
23:24 Moreover Josias removed the sorcerers, and the wizards, and the
theraphin, and the idols, and all the abominations that had been set up in
the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might keep the words of the law
that were written in the book, which Chelcias the priest found in the house
of Yehovah.
23:25 There was no king like him before him, who turned to Yehovah with all
his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength, according to
all the law of Moses; and after him there rose not one like him.
23:26 Nevertheless Yehovah turned not from the fierceness of his great
anger, wherewith he was wroth in his anger against Judah, because of the
provocations, wherewith Manasses provoked him.
23:27 And Yehovah said, I will also remove Judah from my presence, as I
removed Israel, and will reject this city which I have chosen [even]
Jerusalem, and the house [of] which I said, My name shall be there.
23:28 And the rest o the acts of Josias, and all that he did, [are] not
these things written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
23:29 And in his days went upPharaoh Nechao king of Egypt against the king
of the Assyrians to the river Euphrates: and Josias went out to meet him:
and Nechao slew him in Mageddo when he saw him.
23:30 And his servants carried him dead from Mageddo, and brought him to
Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre: and the people of the land took
Joachaz the son of Josias, and anointed him, and made him king in the room
of his father.
23:31 Twenty and three years old was Joachaz when he began to reign, and he
reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name [was] Amital,
daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
23:32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yehovah, according to
all that his fathers did.
23:33 AndPharaoh Nechao removed him to Rablaam in the land of Emath, so that
he should not reign in Jerusalem; and imposed a tribute on the land, a
hundred talents of silver, and a hundred talents of gold.
23:34 AndPharaoh Nechao made Eliakim son of Josias king of Judah king over
them in the place of his father Josias, and he changed his name [to] Joakim,
and he took Joachaz and brought him to Egypt, and he died there.
23:35 And Joakim gave the silver and the gold toPharaoh; but he assessed the
land to give the money at the command ofPharaoh: they gave the silver and
the gold [each] man according to his assessment together with the people of
the land to give toPharaoh Nechao.
23:36 Twenty-five years old [was] Joakim when he began to reign, and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name [was] Jeldaph,
daughter of Phadail of Ruma.
23:37 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the lord, according to
all that his fathers had done. |
23:1 And the king sent, and they gathered
unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
23:2 And the king went up into the house of Yehovah, and all the men of
Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and
the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their
ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house
of Yehovah.
23:3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before Yehovah, to
walk after Yehovah, and to 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 this book. And all the people stood to
the covenant.
23:4 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 Yehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and
for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the
fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
23:5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, 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; them also that burned incense unto Baal,
to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of
heaven.
23:6 And he brought out the grove from the house of Yehovah, without
Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and
stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of
the children of the people.
23:7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house
of Yehovah, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
23:8 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 brake 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.
23:9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of
Yehovah in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their
brethren.
23:10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of
Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the
fire to Molech.
23:11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the
sun, at the entering in of the house of Yehovah, by the chamber of
Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the
chariots of the sun with fire.
23:12 And 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 Yehovah, did the king beat down, and brake
them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
23:13 And 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
builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the
abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children
of Ammon, did the king defile.
23:14 And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled
their places with the bones of men.
23:15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar
and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it
small to powder, and burned the grove.
23:16 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 Yehovah
which the man of Elohim proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
23:17 Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city
told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of Elohim, which came from Judah, and
proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
23:18 And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his
bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
23:19 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 Yehovah to anger,
Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done
in Bethel.
23:20 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.
23:21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto
Yehovah your Elohim, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
23:22 Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the
judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor
of the kings of Judah;
23:23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was
holden to Yehovah in Jerusalem.
23:24 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 Yehovah.
23:25 And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the
Yehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might,
according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like
him.
23:26 Notwithstanding Yehovah turned not from the fierceness of his great
wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the
provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
23:27 And Yehovah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have
removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen,
and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
23:28 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?
23:29 In his daysPharaohhnechoh 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.
23:30 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.
23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
23:32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yehovah, according to
all that his fathers had done.
23:33 AndPharaohhnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath,
that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an
hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
23:34 AndPharaohhnechoh 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.
23:35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold toPharaohh; but he taxed
the land to give the money according to the commandment ofPharaohh: he
exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one
according to his taxation, to give it untoPharaohhnechoh.
23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the
daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
23:37 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yehovah, according to
all that his fathers had done. |