1And the king sent them and they gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. 2And the king went up to the house of Jehovah with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their ears all the Words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of Jehovah. 3Then the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before Jehovah, to follow Jehovah and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the Words of this covenant that were written in this Book. And all the people stood for the covenant. 4And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of Jehovah all the articles that were made for Baal, for the grove, and for all the host of the heavens; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5And he put an end to the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had dedicated to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those burning incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the zodiac, and to all the host of the heavens. 6And he brought out the grove from the house of Jehovah, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and pulverized the ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the sons of the people. 7And he tore down the houses of the male temple prostitutes that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women were weaving shelters for the grove. 8And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to one’s left of the city gate. 9Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren. 10And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. 11And he did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the official who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12The altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, the king beat them down and ran and hurled their dust into the Brook Kidron. 13And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtaroth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon. 14And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and chopped down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. 15Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat had made, by which he had made Israel to sin, both that altar and the high place he tore down; and he burned the high place and pulverized it to dust, and burned the grove. 16And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the Word of Jehovah which the man of God had proclaimed, who had proclaimed these things. 17Then he said, What monument is this that I see? And the men of the city said to him, It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel. 18And he said, Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that had come from Samaria. 19And Josiah also took away all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done at Bethel. 20And he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem. 21And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant. 22Surely such a Passover had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel nor the kings of Judah. 23It was in the eighteenth year of King Josiah that this Passover was observed unto Jehovah in Jerusalem. 24Moreover Josiah put away the mediums and fortunetellers, the household images and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the Words of the Law which were written in the Book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of Jehovah. 25And before him there was no king like him, who turned to Jehovah with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him has any arisen like him. 26Nevertheless Jehovah had not turned from His great burning wrath, with which His anger had been kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27And Jehovah said, I will also remove Judah from before My face, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I had said, My name shall be there. 28Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah. 29In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went out to meet him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30And his servants made him ride dead from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place. 31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32And he did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done. 33And Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz and he came to Egypt, and he died there. 35And Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give money at the mouth of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho. 36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37And he did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.