2 Kings chapter .xxiij.
¶ And then the king sent and gathered unto him all the elders of Iuda and of Ierusalem.
And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Iuda and all the inhabiters of Ierusalem with him, and the priests and the Prophets and all the people both small and great. And he read in the ears of them all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the LORD.
And the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD that they should walk after the LORD, and keep his commandments and his witnesses and his ordinances with all their hearts and all their souls, and make good the words of the said appointment that were written in the foresaid book. And all the people consented to the appointment.
¶ And the king commanded Helkiah the high priest and the inferior priests and the keepers of the door, to bring out of the temple of the LORD, all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the Host of heaven. And he burnt them without Ierusalem in the fields of Cedron and carried the ashes of them into Bethel.
And he put down the Camarites which the kings of Iuda had set to burn offerings in the hillaltars in the cities of Iuda round about Ierusalem and also them that burnt sacrifices unto Baal to the son and to the moon and to the planets, and to all the Host of heaven.
And he brought out the grove from the temple of the LORD without Ierusalem unto the brook Cedron, and stamped it to powder, and cast the dust thereof upon the graves of people of the country.
And he brake down the cells of the male whores that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove little houses for the grove.
And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Iuda, and defiled the hillaltars where the priests did burn sacrifice, even from Gabaa to Bersabe. And he brake down the hillaltars of the Gates, that were in the entering of the gate of Iosua the governor of the city, which were on the left hand of the gate of the city.
Nevertheless the priests of the hillaltars might not come at the altar of the LORD in Ierusalem, save only they did eat of the sweet bread among their brethren.
And he defiled Topheth also, which is in the valley of the children of Hennom, because no man should offer his son or his daughter in fire to Moloch:
he put down the horses that the kings of Israel had given to the son at the entering of the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Nathanmeleh the chamberlain which was of Paruarim, and burnt the chariots of the son with fire.
And the altars that were on the top of the parlour of Ahaz which the king of Iuda had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king brake down, and ran thence and cast the dust of them into the brook Cedron.
And the hillaltars that before Ierusalem on the right hand of the mount Nashith, which Salomon king of Israel built to Astharoth the abomination of the Zidons and to Chamos the abomination of the Moabites, and to Milchom the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled:
and brake the images and cut down the groves and filled the places with the bones of men.
Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, the hillaltar made by Ieroboam the son of Nabat which made Israel sin: both the altar and also the hill he brake down and burnt the hill and stamped it to powder, and burnt the grove.
And as Iosiah turned himself, he spied the graves that were in the mount and sent and fetched the bones out of the graves and burnt them upon the altar and polluted it according to the word of the LORD that the man of God had proclaimed, which openly had denounced the same things.
Then the king said: what meaneth yonder grave stone that I see? And the men of the city told him, it is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Iuda and openly denounced the self same things that thou hast done to the altar of Bethel.
And he said let him be: see that no man move his bones. And so his bones escaped with the bones of a Prophet that came out of Samaria.
And thereto all the houses of the hillaltars of the cities of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made, to anger with all: Iosiah put out of the way and did to them in all points as he did in Bethel.
And he sacrificed all the priests of the hillaltars that were there, even upon the altars, and burnt men's bones upon them, and returned to Ierusalem.
And the king commanded all the people saying: keep the feast of passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
For there was no passover held like that from the days of the judges that judged Israel, and thorowout all the days of the kings of Israel and of Iuda.
And in the eighteenth year of king Iosiah was this passover holden to the LORD in Ierusalem.
And thereto workers with spirits, soothsayers, Images of witchcraft, idols and all other abominations that were spied in the land of Iuda and in Ierusalem, Iosiah put out of the way to make good the words of the law, which were written in the book that Helkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD:
¶ like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and all his might, according to all the law of Moses, neither after him arose there any such.
Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from his fierce and great wrath wherewith he was angry against Iuda upon all the provocations that Manasseh provoked him.
But the LORD said: I will put Iuda too, out of my sight, as I have done Israel, and will cast off this city Ierusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I have said, my name shall be there.
The rest of the deeds of Iosiah and all he did are written in the book of the stories of the kings of Iuda.
In his days Pharao Necoh king of Egypt went against the king of Assiria to the river of Euphrates. And king Iosiah went against him, and was slain of him at Magedo when he had seen him.
And his servants carried him dead from Magedo and brought him to Ierusalem and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Iehoahaz the son of Iosiah and anointed him and made him king in his father's room.
¶ And Iehoahaz was twenty three years old when he began to reign and reigned three months in Ierusalem. His mother's name was Namital the daughter of Ieremiah of Lobnah.
And he did that displeased the LORD, in all things as his fathers had done.
And Pharao Necoh put him in bonds at Reblah in the land of Hemath in the time of his reign in Ierusalem, and put the land to a tribute of an hundredth talents of silver and a talent of gold.
And Pharao Necoh made Eliakim the son of Iosiah king in the room of Iosiah his father, and turned his name to Iehoakim, and took Iehoahaz away which when he came to Egypt died there.
And Iehoakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharao: how be it he taxed the land, to give the money at the commandment of Pharao and as every man was set at, so he required the silver and the gold of the people of the land, to give Pharao Necoh.
Iehoakim was twenty five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned an eleven years in Ierusalem. His mother was named Zebda the daughter of Phadaiah of Ramah.
And he did that was evil favoured in the sight of the LORD, like in all things as did his fathers.
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.