Study Desk

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah an official of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the secretary, to repair the house of the LORD his God.

When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes.

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

Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that are written in this book.

Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the LORD God of their fathers.

He also said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it will not be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel.

"Prepare yourselves by your fathers' households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and according to the writing of his son Solomon.

His officers also contributed a voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officials of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 from the flocks and three hundred bulls, for the Passover offerings.

Conaniah also, and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed five thousand from the flocks and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover offerings.

The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am badly wounded."

So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him on the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the Law of the LORD,

and his acts, the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

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

The king of Egypt made Joahaz's brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took his brother Joahaz and brought him to Egypt.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the articles of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and he put them in his temple in Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations which he committed, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent men and had him brought to Babylon with the valuable articles of the house of the LORD; and he made his relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God; he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD.