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

And he did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah and walked in the ways of David his father and did not turn to the right or to the left.

And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still  ¹young, he began to seek after the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places and the Asherahs and the idols and the molten images.

And they tore down the altars to the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were set upon them he hewed down; and the Asherahs and the idols and the molten images he shattered and ground them to dust and scattered it upon the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

And he burned the bones of the priests upon their own altars and so purged Judah and Jerusalem.

And in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around,

He also tore down the altars and beat the Asherahs and idols into dust, and he hewed down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

And in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphat the son of Azariah and Maaseiah the governor of the city and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder to repair the house of Jehovah his God.

And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the doorkeepers, had collected from the hands of Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And they delivered it into the hand of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and those who did the work, who worked in the house of Jehovah, used it to mend and repair the house.

And they gave it to the carpenters and the builders for the purchase of hewn stones and timber for couplings and to make beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had destroyed.

And the men did the work faithfully, and the overseers over them were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to supervise; and the Levites who were all skilled in musical instruments

Were over the burden bearers and supervised all who did the work from task to task; and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.

And when they brought out the money that had been brought into the house of Jehovah, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah given through Moses.

And Hilkiah responded and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

And Shaphan brought the book to the king and in addition brought back word to the king, saying, All that was committed to the hand of your servants they are doing.

They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Jehovah and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and into the hand of those who do the work.

Then Shaphan the scribe reported to the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read aloud in it before the king.

And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore 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 the king's servant, saying,

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

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

And she said to them, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me,

Thus says Jehovah, I am now bringing evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book that they have read aloud before the king of Judah.

Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and it shall not be quenched.

But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall you say to him: Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, regarding the words which you have heard,

Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants and humbled yourself before Me and tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you, declares Jehovah.

I will then gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place and upon its inhabitants. And they brought word back to the king.

And the king sent word and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, with 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 aloud, in their hearing, all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the house of Jehovah.

And the king stood up where he was and made a covenant before Jehovah to walk after Jehovah and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul by performing the words of the covenant which were written in this book.

And he made all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin enter into the covenant. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

And Josiah removed all the abominations out of all the lands that belonged to the children of Israel, and he made all who were found in Israel serve Jehovah their God; throughout his days they did not turn from following after Jehovah, the God of their fathers.

And Josiah held the Passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the passover sacrifice on the fourteenth day of the first month.

And he set the priests in their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of Jehovah.

And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were sanctified to Jehovah, Put the holy Ark into the house that Solomon the son of David, the king of Israel, built; it shall no longer be the burden on your shoulders. Now serve Jehovah your God and His people Israel,

And prepare yourselves according to your fathers' houses by youre divisions according to what David the king of Israel wrote and according to the document of Solomon his son.

And stand in the holy place for the groups of the fathers' houses of your brothers, the common people, and let each division of Levites stand for a portion of a father's house.

And slaughter the passover sacrifice, and sanctify yourselves and prepare it for your brothers, to act according to the word of Jehovah given through Moses.

And Josiah contributed to the common people lambs and kids from the flock, all for the passover offerings, to all who were found there, thirty thousand animals in number, and three thousand cattle; these were from the king's possessions.

And his officers contributed a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites; Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred from the flock and three hundred cattle.

Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, contributed to the Levites for the passover offerings five thousand from the flock and five hundred cattle.

So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the command of the king.

And they slaughtered the passover sacrifices; and while the priests sprinkled the blood that they received from their hand, the Levites flayed them.

And they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the groups of the fathers' houses of the common people to offer to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so they did with the cattle.

And they roasted the passover in fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled the holy offerings in pots and in cauldrons and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the common people.

And afterward they provided for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites provided for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun the king's seer. And the gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not need to turn from their service, for their brothers the Levites provided for them.

Thus all the service of Jehovah was prepared that same day, in order to hold the Passover and offer up burnt offerings upon the altar of Jehovah according to the command of King Josiah.

And the children of Israel who were found there held the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

And a Passover like that had never been held in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet, nor did any of the kings of Israel hold such a Passover as was held by Josiah and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were found there and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was held.

After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco the king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.

And  ¹Neco sent messengers to him, saying, What have I to do with you, O king of Judah? I have not come up against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has commanded me to hurry. Refrain for your own sake from interfering with God, who is with me, and He will not destroy you.

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

And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Take me away, for I have been wounded severely.

So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him in the chariot of his second-in-command, and they brought him to Jerusalem; and he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah. And all the male singers and female singers speak of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, for they have made it a custom in Israel; and they are there written in the lamentations.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good deeds according to what is written in the law of Jehovah

And his acts, first and last, are there written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in the place of his father in Jerusalem.

 ¹Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem and imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Joahaz his brother and carried him away to Egypt.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God.

Against him Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar also carried away some of the vessels of the house of Jehovah to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and his abominations which he did and that which was found against him are there written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah.

And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent men and brought him to Babylon with the precious vessels of the house of Jehovah.

And he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

 ¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God; he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet whose speaking was from the mouth of Jehovah.

And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning to Jehovah the God of Israel.

Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people acted exceedingly unfaithfully according to all the abominations of the nations, and they polluted the house of Jehovah which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent word to them  ¹day after day through His messengers because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.

But they mocked the messengers of God and despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of Jehovah rose up against His people, until there was no remedy.

Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on old man or feeble; He delivered them all into his hand.

And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.

And they burned down the house of God; and they broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned down all its palaces with fire, and all its precious vessels were given up to destruction.

And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon,

and they became servants to him and to his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,

So as to fulfill the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths: As long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, until seventy years were fulfilled.

And in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, so that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia; and he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying,

Thus says Cyrus the king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah the God of heaven given to me; and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up!