2 Kings
Chapter 22
1 Josiah became king when he was eight years old and ruled for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah from Boscath.
2 He did what was good in God’s eyes, followed his father David’s path, and did not stray to the right or left.
3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, he sent Shaphan, Azaliah’s son and Meshullam’s grandson, who was a writer, to God’s house with a message.
4 Go to Hilkiah the high priest, so he can count the silver that has been brought to God’s house, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
5 Let them hand it over to the workers in charge of God’s house and let those workers use it to fix the damages of the house.
6 To carpenters, builders, stonecutters, and to buy wood and cut stones to fix the house.
7 However, they did not have to explain how they used the money given to them, because they acted honestly.
8 Hilkiah the high priest told Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the book of the law in God’s house.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who then read it.
9 Shaphan the secretary went to the king, told him news, and said, “Your servants collected the money found in the temple, and gave it to the workers managing the temple repairs.”
10 The writer Shaphan told the king, “The priest Hilkiah gave me a book,” and Shaphan read it to the king.
11 When the king heard the words of the law book, he tore his clothes.
12 The king told Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam Shaphan’s son, Achbor Michaiah’s son, Shaphan the writer, and Asahiah, the king’s worker, to do this:
13 Go ask God for guidance for me, the people, and all of Judah about this book that we found. God is very angry with us because our ancestors did not listen to its words and did not do everything it says we should.
14 Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asahiah went to see Huldah the prophet, who was married to Shallum, Tikvah’s son and Harhas’s grandson, who took care of the clothes. She lived in Jerusalem at the school, and they talked with her.
15 She said to them, “God of Israel says, ‘Tell the man who sent you to me,’”.
16 God says, “Look, I will bring disaster on this place and on its people, all the curses written in the book the king of Judah has read.”
17 Because they left me and worshiped other gods, making me angry with what they did, my anger will burn against this place and will not be put out.
18 Tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask God, God of Israel says this about what you have heard.
19 Because your heart was soft, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what I said about this place and its people, that they would be ruined and cursed, and you tore your clothes and cried before me; I have heard you too, says God.
20 See, I will bring you to your ancestors, and you will go to your grave in peace; your eyes won’t see all the bad things I will cause in this place. They told the king this message.