Day 201 of 730

¹Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

²He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

³For 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 Asherim, and the engraved images, and the molten images.

⁴They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the incense altars that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherim, and the engraved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

⁵He burnt the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.

⁶He did this in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, around in their ruins.

⁷He broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the engraved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.

⁸Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

⁹They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into God's house, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰They delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and the workmen who labored in the house of the Lord gave it to mend and repair the house;

¹¹even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy cut stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

¹²The men did the work faithfully: and their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and others of the Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music.

¹³Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and set forward all who did the work in every kind of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.

¹⁴When they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.

¹⁵Hilkiah answered Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, "All that was committed to your servants, they are doing.

¹⁷They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen."

¹⁸Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book." Shaphan read therein before the king.

¹⁹It happened, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he tore his clothes.

²⁰The king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,

²¹"Go inquire of the Lord for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book."

²²So Hilkiah, and they whom the king had commanded, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter;) and they spoke to her to that effect.

²³She said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me,

²⁴"Thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will bring disaster on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.

²⁵Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore is my wrath poured out on this place, and it shall not be quenched.'"'

²⁶But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus you shall tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: "As touching the words which you have heard,

²⁷because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you," says the Lord.

²⁸"Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the disaster that I will bring on this place, and on its inhabitants."'" They brought back word to the king.

²⁹Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

³⁰The king went up to the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, both 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.

³¹The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

³²He caused all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

³³Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not depart from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

¹Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem: and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

²He set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the Lord.

³He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the Lord, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. There shall no more be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God, and his people Israel.

⁴Prepare yourselves after your fathers' houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.

⁵Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of your brothers the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers' house of the Levites.

⁶Kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses."

⁷Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls: these were of the king's substance.

⁸His princes gave for a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of God's house, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle.

⁹Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock, and five hundred head of cattle.

¹⁰So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king's commandment.

¹¹They killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the Levites flayed them.

¹²They removed the burnt offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the children of the people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. So they did with the cattle.

¹³They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance: and the holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people.

¹⁴Afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busy with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.

¹⁵The 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 were at every gate: they did not need to depart from their service; for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

¹⁶So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

¹⁷The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

¹⁸There was no Passover like 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 who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept.

²⁰After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

²¹But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, "What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I have war. God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is God who is with me, that he not destroy you."

²²Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

²³The archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, because I am seriously wounded!"

²⁴So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

²⁵Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and behold, they are written in the lamentations.

²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of the Lord,

²⁷and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

¹Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.

³For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me.

⁴Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.

⁵Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.

⁶Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

⁹Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹Do not throw me from your presence, and do not take your holy Spirit from me.

¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners shall be converted to you.

¹⁴Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

¹⁵Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise.

¹⁶For you do not delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

¹A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools gush out folly.

³The Lord's eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

⁴A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but deceit in it crushes the spirit.

⁵A fool despises his father's correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence.

⁶In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but the income of the wicked brings trouble.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so with the heart of fools.

⁸The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who follows after righteousness.

¹⁰There is stern discipline for one who forsakes the way: whoever hates reproof shall die.

¹¹Sheol and Abaddon are before the Lord- how much more then the hearts of the children of men!

¹²A scoffer doesn't love to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

¹³A glad heart makes a cheerful face; but an aching heart breaks the spirit.

¹⁴The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the afflicted are wretched, but one who has a cheerful heart enjoys a continual feast.

¹⁶Better is little, with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.

¹⁷Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.

¹⁸A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife.

¹⁹The way of the sluggard is like a thorn patch, but the path of the upright is a highway.

²⁰A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.

²¹Folly is joy to one who is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding keeps his way straight.

²²Where there is no counsel, plans fail; but in a multitude of counselors they are established.

²³Joy comes to a man with the reply of his mouth. How good is a word at the right time!

²⁴The path of life leads upward for the wise, to keep him from going downward to Sheol.

²⁵The Lord will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow's borders intact.

²⁶The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the thoughts of the pure are pleasing.

²⁷He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.

²⁸The heart of the righteous weighs answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil.

²⁹The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

³⁰The light of the eyes rejoices the heart. Good news gives health to the bones.

³¹The ear that listens to reproof lives, and will be at home among the wise.

³²He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.

³³The fear of the Lord teaches wisdom. Before honor is humility.