Josias readeth the law before all the people. They promise to observe
it. He abolisheth all idolatry, celebrateth the phase: is slain in
battle by the king of Egypt. The short reign of Joachaz, in whose place
Joakim is made king.
23:1. And they brought the king word again what she had said. And he
sent: and all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem were assembled to him.
23:2. And the king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all the men
of Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, the priests,
and the prophets, and all the people, both little and great: and in the
hearing of them all he read all the words of the book of the covenant,
which was found in the house of the Lord.
23:3. And the king stood upon the step: and he made a covenant with the
Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his
testimonies, and his ceremonies, with all their heart, and with all
their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant, which were
written in that book: and the people agreed to the covenant.
The king stood upon the step.... That is, his tribune, or tribunal, a
more eminent place, from whence he might be seen and heard by the
people.
23:4. And the king commanded Helcias, the high priest, and the priests
of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to cast out of the temple of
the Lord all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the
grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burnt them without
Jerusalem, in the valley of Cedron, and he carried the ashes of them to
Bethel.
23:5. And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Juda had
appointed to sacrifice in the high places in the cities of Juda, and
round about Jerusalem: them also that burnt incense to Baal, and to the
sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of
heaven.
23:6. And he caused the grove to be carried out from the house of the
Lord, without Jerusalem, to the valley of Cedron, and he burnt it
there, and reduced it to dust, and cast the dust upon the graves of the
common people.
23:7. He destroyed also the pavilions of the effeminate, which were in
the house of the Lord, for which the women wove as it were little
dwellings for the grove.
23:8. And he gathered together all the priests out of the cities of
Juda: and he defiled the high places, where the priests offered
sacrifice, from Gabaa to Bersabee: and he broke down the altars of the
gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Josue, governor of
the city, which was on the left hand of the gate of the city.
23:9. However, the priests of the high places came not up to the altar
of the Lord, in Jerusalem: but only ate of the unleavened bread among
their brethren.
23:10. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of
Ennom: that no man should consecrate there his son, or his daughter,
through fire, to Moloch.
23:11. And he took away the horses which the kings of Juda had given to
the sun, at the entering in of the temple of the Lord, near the chamber
of Nathanmelech the eunuch, who was in Pharurim: and he burnt the
chariots of the sun with fire.
23:12. And the altars that were upon the top of the upper chamber of
Achaz, which the kings of Juda had made, and the altars which Manasses
had made in the two courts of the temple of the Lord, the king broke
down: and he ran from thence, and cast the ashes of them into the
torrent Cedron.
23:13. The high places also that were at Jerusalem, on the right side
of the Mount of Offence, which Solomon, king of Israel, had built to
Astaroth, the idol of the Sidonians, and to Chamos, the scandal of
Moab, and to Melchom, the abomination of the children of Ammon, the
king defiled.
23:14. And he broke in pieces the statues, and cut down the groves: and
he filled their places with the bones of dead men.
23:15. Moreover, the altar also that was at Bethel, and the high place,
which Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, had made:
both the altar, and the high place, he broke down and burnt, and
reduced to powder, and burnt the grove.
23:16. And as Josias turned himself, he saw there the sepulchres that
were in the mount: and he sent and took the bones out of the
sepulchres, and burnt them upon the altar, and defiled it according to
the word of the Lord, which the man of God spoke, who had foretold
these things.
23:17. And he said: What is that monument which I see? And the men of
that city answered: It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came
from Juda, and foretold these things which thou hast done upon the
altar of Bethel.
23:18. And he said: Let him alone, let no man move his bones. So his
bones were left untouched with the bones of the prophet, that came out
of Samaria.
23:19. Moreover all the temples of the high places which were in the
cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the
Lord, Josias took away: and he 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 he burnt men’s bones upon them: and returned to
Jerusalem.
23:21. And he commanded all the people, saying: Keep the Phase to the
Lord your God, according as it is written in the book of this covenant.
23:22. Now there was no such a Phase kept from the days of the judges,
who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of
the kings of Juda,
23:23. As was this Phase, that was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem, in
the eighteenth year of king Josias.
23:24. Moreover the diviners by spirits, and soothsayers, and the
figures of idols, and the uncleannesses, and the abominations, that had
been in the land of Juda and Jerusalem, Josias took away: that he might
perform the words of the law, that were written in the book, which
Helcias the priest had found in the temple of the Lord.
23:25. There was no king before him like unto him, that returned to the
Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his
strength, according to all the law of Moses: neither after him did
there arise any like unto him.
23:26. But yet the Lord turned not away from the wrath of his great
indignation, wherewith his anger was kindled against Juda: because of
the provocations, wherewith Manasses had provoked him.
23:27. And the Lord said: I will remove Juda also from before my face,
as I have removed Israel: and I will cast off this city Jerusalem,
which I chose, and the house, of which I said: My name shall be there.
23:28. Now the rest of the acts of Josias, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Juda?
23:29. In his days Pharao Nechao, king of Egypt, went up against the
king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josias went to meet
him: and was slain at Mageddo, when he had seen him.
23:30. And his servants carried him dead from Mageddo: and they brought
him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people
of the land took Joachaz, the son of Josias: and they anointed him, and
made him king in his father’s stead.
23:31. Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was
Amital, the daughter of Jeremias, of Lobna.
23:32. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his
fathers had done.
23:33. And Pharao Nechao bound him at Rebla, which is in the land of
Emath, that he should not reign in Jerusalem: and he set a fine upon
the land, of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
23:34. And Pharao Nechao made Eliacim, the son of Josias, king in the
room of Josias his father: and turned his name to Joakim. And he took
Joachaz away and carried him into Egypt, and he died there.
23:35. And Joakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharao, after he had
taxed the land for every man, to contribute according to the
commandment of Pharao: and he exacted both the silver and the gold of
the people of the land, of every man according to his ability: to give
to Pharao Nechao.
23:36. Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and
he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was
Zebida, the daughter of Phadaia, of Ruma.
23:37. And he did evil before the Lord according to all that his
fathers had done.