Josiah Renews the Covenant (2 Chronicles 34:29–33)
1 UDB Then the king summoned all the elders of Jerusalem and of the other places in Judah. BSB BSB: Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
2 UDB They went together to the temple, along with the priests and the prophets and many other people, from the most important people to the least important people. And while they listened, the king read to them all of the laws that Moses had written. He read from the scroll that had been found in the temple. BSB BSB: And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.
3 UDB Then the king stood next to the pillar where the kings stood when they made important announcements, and, while Yahweh was listening, he repeated his promise to sincerely obey the covenant with his inner being. And all the people also promised to obey the covenant. BSB BSB: So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
Josiah Destroys Idolatry (1 Kings 13:1–10; 2 Chronicles 34:3–7)
5 UDB There were many pagan priests whom the previous kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the altars scattered throughout the region of Judah and to worship on the high places that were built on the hills. They had been offering sacrifices to Baal, the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. The king stopped them from doing those things. BSB BSB: Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.
6 UDB He commanded that the statue of the goddess Asherah be taken out of the temple. Then they took it outside Jerusalem down to the Kidron Valley and burned it. Then they pounded the ashes to powder and scattered that over the graves of ordinary people. BSB BSB: He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.
7 UDB He also took everything out of the rooms in the temple where the temple male prostitutes lived. That was where women wove robes that were used to worship the goddess Asherah. BSB BSB: He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
10 UDB Josiah also desecrated the place named Topheth, in the Ben Hinnom Valley, so that no one could offer his son or daughter there to be completely burned on the altar as a sacrifice to the god Molech. BSB BSB: He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
12 UDB Josiah also commanded his servants to tear down the altars that the previous kings of Judah had built on the palace roof, above the room where King Ahaz had stayed. They also tore down the altars that had been built by King Manasseh in the two courtyards outside the temple. He commanded that they be smashed to pieces and thrown down into the Kidron Valley. BSB BSB: He pulled down the altars that the kings of Judah had set up on the roof near the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars that Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. The king pulverized them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.
14 UDB They also broke into pieces the stone pillars that the Israelite people worshiped and cut down the poles that honored the goddess Asherah, and they scattered the ground there with human bones to desecrate it. BSB BSB: He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.
15 UDB Furthermore, he commanded them to tear down the place of worship that was near the city of Bethel, the very same place of worship that had been built by King Jeroboam (whose father was Nebat), the same man who made Israel to sin against Yahweh. Josiah led the people of Israel to tear down that altar that was on the high hill, and they also burned the wooden pole used in the worship of the idol that had the name "Asherah." BSB BSB: He even pulled down the altar at Bethel, the high place set up by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. Then he burned the high place, ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole.
16 UDB Then Josiah looked around and saw some tombs on the hill. He commanded his men to take the bones out of those tombs and burn them on the altar. By doing that, he desecrated the altar. These events were predicted many years before when Yahweh gave his word to Israel by his prophet. BSB BSB: And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it, according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who had foretold these things.
17 UDB Josiah asked, "Whose tomb is that?" The people of Bethel replied, "It is the tomb of the prophet who came from Judah and predicted that these things that you have just now done to this altar would happen." BSB BSB: Then the king asked, “What is this monument I see?” And the men of the city replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”
18 UDB Josiah replied, "Allow his tomb to remain as it is. Do not remove the prophet's bones from the tomb." So the people did not remove those bones or the bones of the other prophet, the one who had come from Samaria. BSB BSB: “Let him rest,” said Josiah. “Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, along with those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
19 UDB In every city in Israel, at Josiah's command, they tore down the houses built on hills to worship idols—the ones that had been built by the previous kings of Israel and that had caused Yahweh to become very angry. He did to all those places of idols worship the same thing that he had done to the altars at Bethel. BSB BSB: Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the LORD to anger.
20 UDB He ordered that all the priests who offered sacrifices on the places built on the hills where they worshiped idols were to be killed on those altars. Then he burned human bones on every one of those altars to desecrate them. Then he returned to Jerusalem. BSB BSB: On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Josiah Restores the Passover (2 Chronicles 35:1–19)
21 UDB Then the king commanded all the people to celebrate the Passover festival to honor Yahweh their God, which was written in the law of Moses that they should do every year. BSB BSB: The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
22 UDB During all the years that leaders ruled Israel and during all the years that kings ruled Israel and Judah, they had not celebrated that festival. BSB BSB: No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Israel through all the days of the kings of Israel and Judah.
23 UDB But now, after Josiah had been ruling for almost eighteen years, to honor Yahweh they celebrated the Passover festival in Jerusalem. BSB BSB: But in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.
24 UDB Furthermore, Josiah removed from Jerusalem and other places in Judah all the people who practiced sorcery and those who asked the spirits of dead people to tell them what they should do. He also removed from Jerusalem and from the other places in Judah all the household idols and all the other idols and abominable things. He did those things to obey what had been written in the scroll that Hilkiah had found in the temple. BSB BSB: Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.
25 UDB Josiah was devoted to Yahweh with all that he felt and thought and with all his strength. There had never been in Judah or Israel a king like him. He obeyed all the laws of Moses. And there has never since then been a king like Josiah. BSB BSB: Neither before nor after Josiah was there any king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses.
26 UDB But Yahweh had become extremely angry with the people of Judah because of all the things that King Manasseh had done to provoke him, and he continued to be very angry. BSB BSB: Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the fury of His burning anger, which was kindled against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke Him to anger.
27 UDB He said, "I will do to Judah what I have done to Israel. I will drive away the people of Judah, with the result that they will never enter my presence again. And I will reject Jerusalem, the city that I chose to belong to me, and I will reject the temple, the place where I said that I should be worshiped." BSB BSB: For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”
The Death of Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:20–24)
28 UDB All the other things that Josiah did are written in the book of the events of the kings of Judah. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Josiah and all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
30 UDB His officials placed his corpse in a chariot and took it back to Jerusalem where it was buried in his own tomb. Then the people of Judah poured olive oil on Josiah's son Jehoahaz to appoint him to be the new king. BSB BSB: From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.
Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah (2 Chronicles 36:1–4)
31 UDB Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became the king of Judah, but he ruled from Jerusalem for only three months. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from the city of Libnah. BSB BSB: Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.
32 UDB Jehoahaz did many things that Yahweh said were evil, just as many of his ancestors had done. BSB BSB: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.
33 UDB King Necho's army captured him and tied him up with chains and took him as a prisoner to the city of Riblah in the district of Hamath to prevent him from continuing to rule in Jerusalem. Necho forced the people of Judah to pay to him about 3,300 kilograms of silver and thirty-three kilograms of gold. BSB BSB: And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34 UDB King Necho appointed another son of Josiah, Eliakim, to be the new king, and he changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Joahaz to Egypt, and later Joahaz died there in Egypt. BSB BSB: Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, where he died.
35 UDB King Jehoiakim collected a tax from the people of Judah. He collected more from the rich people and less from the poor people. He collected silver and gold from them to pay to the king of Egypt what he commanded them to give. BSB BSB: So Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh’s demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth.
Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 36:5–8)
36 UDB Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became the king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah from the city of Rumah. BSB BSB: Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.
37 UDB He did many things that Yahweh said were evil, as his ancestors had done. BSB BSB: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.
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