2 Chronicles 34

Matthew(i) 1 Iosiah was made Kyng when he was .viij. yere olde, and he raigned in Ierusalem .xxxi. yere. 2 And he dyd that pleased the Lord, & walked in the wayes of Dauid his father bowing netherto the right hande or to the lefte. 3 In so much that the eight yeare of hys raygne, when he was yet a lad, he beganne to seke after the God of Dauid hys father. And in the twelueth yeare he beganne to pourge Iuda and Ierusalem of hylaulters, groues, kerued Images, & Images of metal: 4 so that they brake doune the aulters of Baals euen in his presence, and the ydoles that were vpon them, he caused to be destroyed. And the groues, kerued Images, & Images of metall he brake and made dust of them, and strawed it vpon the graues of them that had offered to them. 5 And he burnt the bones of the priestes vpon the aulters, & clensed Iuda and Ierusalem. 6 And euen so dyd he in the cyties of Manasseh. Ephraim, Simeon & of Nephthali therto. And in the wyldernesses of them roundabout 7 he plucked a sondre the aulers & the groues and dyd beate them and stampe them to poudre, & bete doune the ydoles thorowout all the lande of Israell: & then returned to Ierusalem agayne. 8 And in the .xviij. yeare of his raigne when he had purged the land & the temple, he sente Saphan the sonne of Azaliah, & Maasiah the gouernoure of the cytye and Ioah the sonne Ioahaz the recorder, to repayre the house of the Lorde his God. 9 And when they came to Helkiah the hye priest, men deliuered them the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Leuites that kept the enteries had gathered of the handes of Manasseh & Ephraim & of all that yet remayned in Israel & of all Iuda & Beniamin & of the enhabiters of Ierusalem. 10 And they put it in the handes of the worckmen that had the ouersyght of the house of the Lorde, whiche gaue yt to the labourers that wrought on the house of the Lord, to repayre & mende it, 11 and to masons and carpenters to bye hewed stone & timbre for to make couples and beames for the houses whiche the kynges of Iuda had destroyed: 12 And the men wrought in the worke of fidelite. And the ouer seares of them to courage them forwarde, were Iahath & Obadiah Leuites of the chyldren of Merari: and Secharia and Mesulam of the children of the Cahathites, and as manye other of the Leuites as coulde skille of instrumentes of Musick. 13 And ouer the bearers of burthens & ouer all that wrought, in what soeuer worckeman shipe it were, wete there scribes, officers and porters of the Leuites. 14 And as they brought out the money that was brought into the house, Helkiah the preaste founde the boke of the lawe of the Lord geuen by Moses. 15 And Helkiah answered and sayd to Saphan the scrybe: I haue founde the boke of the law in the house of the Lorde, and gaue the boke to Saphan. 16 And Saphan caryed the boke to the kynge, and brought the kynge worde agayne, saying: all that was committed to thy seruauntes, that do they. 17 And they haue powred out the money that was founde in the house of the Lorde and haue delyuered in to the handes of the ouer seares of the worckemen. 18 And then Saphan the scribe shewed the kyng, sayinge: Helkiah the preaste hath geuen me a boke, and he read it before the kynge. 19 And when the kyng had hearde the wordes of the lawe, he tare his clothes: 20 & commaunded Helkiah and Ahikam the sonne of Saphan and Abadon the sonne of Micah & the sayde Saphan the scribe & Asaia a seruaunt of the kynges, saying: 21 go & enquire of the Lorde for me and for them that are lefte in Israel and Iuda, concernyng the wordes of the boke that is founde. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is fallen vpon vs, because oure fathers kept not the worde of the Lorde, to do after all that is written in this boke. 22 And Helkiah with them that pertayned to the Kynge went to Holdah a prophetisse wyfe of Selum the sonne of Thekohath the sonne of Hasarah keper of the wardrope (which prophetisse dwelt in Ierusalem in the seconde warde) & they comuned so wt her. 23 And she sayde vnto them: thus sayth the Lorde God of Israel, tell ye the man that sent you to me. 24 Euen thus sayth the Lorde: se, I will brynge euell vpon this place and vpon the enhabiters therof, euen all the cursses that are written in the boke which they haue reade before the kyng of Iuda, 25 because they haue forsaken me and haue offered vnto other Gods to angre me with all maner worckes of theyre handes, therfore is my wrath set on fyre agaynst thys place & shall not be quenched. 26 And as for the kynge of Iuda whiche sent you to enquire of the Lorde, so shall ye saye vnto him, thus sayth the Lord God of Israel concernyng the wordes which thou hast hearde 27 Because thyne hert dyd melt & thou dydest meke thy selfe before God, when thou heardest his wordes agaynst this place and agaynste the enhabiters therof: & humbledest thy selfe before me, and tarest thy clothes and wepest before me, that haue I hearde also sayth the Lorde. 28 Beholde I will take the to thy fathers & thou shalt be put in thy graue in peace, and thyne eyes shall not se all the myscheue that I will bryng vpon this place & vpon the enhabyters of the same. And they brought the kynge worde agayne. 29 Then the Kynge sent & geathered to geather all the elders of Iuda & Ierusalem. 30 And the kyng went vp in to the house of the Lorde, & all the men of Iuda and the enhabiters of Ierusalem & the Preastes & Leuites and all the people great and smalle: and reade all the wordes of the boke of the couenaunt that was founde in the house of the Lorde. 31 And the kynge stode at hys standynge & made a couenaunt before the Lorde, to folowe the Lord and to kepe his commaundementes, his wytnesse and his statutes with al his herte and with all hys soule & to fulfyl the wordes of the appoyntment wrytten in the sayde boke. 32 And he made to come forth all that were founde in Ierusalem and Beniamin, and the enhabyters of Ierusalem promesed to kepe the couenaunt of that God whiche was the God of theyr fathers. 33 And Iosiah put away all maner of abhominacyons out of all landes that pertayned to the chyldren of Israel, and brought all that were founde in Israel to serue the Lorde theyr God. And they turned not a syde from after the Lorde God of theyr fathers as longe as he lyued.