Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from 2 Kings chapter
23. Now the king sent them to gather all the
elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. The king
went up to the house of the Lord 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 hearing all the words of the book
of the covenant, which had been found in the
house of the Lord. Then the king stood by a pillar
and made a covenant before the Lord to follow
the Lord 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 took a stand for the covenant.
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest
and the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers
to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the
articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah,
and for all the hosts of heaven. And he burned
them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron
and carried their ashes to Bethel. Then he removed
the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah
had ordained to burn incense on the high places
in the cities of Judah and in the places all
around Jerusalem. and those who burned incense
to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations,
and to all the hosts of heaven. And he brought
out the wooden image from the house of the Lord
to the brook Kidron outside Jerusalem. burned
it at the brook Kidron and ground it to ashes,
and threw its ashes on the graves of the common
people. Then he tore down the ritual booth of
the perverted persons that were in the house
of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for
the wooden image. And he brought all the priests
from the cities of Judah and defiled the high
places where the priests had burned incense from
Geba to Beersheba. 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 the left of the city gate. Nevertheless,
the priests of the high places did not come up
to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they
ate unleavened bread among their brethren. And
he defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of
the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his
son or his daughter pass through the fire to
Molech. Then he removed the horses that the kings
of Judah had dedicated to the son at the entrance
to the house of the Lord by the chamber of Nathan
Melech, the officer who was in the court, and
he burned the chariots of the son with fire.
The altars that were on the roof, 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 the Lord, the king broke
down and pulverized there, and threw their dust
into the brook Kidron. Then 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 Ashtoreth,
the abomination of the Sidonians, for Shemosh,
the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom,
the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he
broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down
the wooden images and filled their places with
the bones of men. Moreover, the altar that was
at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the
son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made,
both that altar and the high place he broke down,
and he burned the high place and crushed it to
powder, and burned the wooden image. 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 the Lord,
which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed
these words. Then he said, What gravestone is
this that I see? So the men of the city told
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. And
he said, Let him alone, let no one move his bones.
So they let his bones alone with the bones of
the prophet who came from Samaria. Now Joshua
also took away all the shrines of the high places
that were in the cities of samaria which the
kings of israel had made to provoke the lord
to anger and he did to them according to all
the deeds he had done in bethel he executed 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 Then the king commanded
all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to
the Lord your God, as it is written in this book
of the covenant. Such a Passover surely had never
been held since the days of the judges who judged
Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel
and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth
year of King Josiah, this Passover was held before
the Lord in Jerusalem. Moreover, Josiah put away
those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the
household gods 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
found in the house of the Lord. Now before him
there was no king like him. who turned to the
Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and
with all his might, according to all the law
of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him.
Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn from the
fierceness of his great wrath, with which his
anger was aroused against Judah, because of all
the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked
him. And the Lord said, I will also remove Judah
from my sight, as I have removed Israel, and
will cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have
chosen, and the house of which I said, My name
shall be there. Now 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?
In his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went
to the aid of the king of Assyria to the river
Euphrates, and king Josiah went against him,
and Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when
he confronted him. Then his servants moved his
body in a chariot 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. Jehoahaz 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 Libna.
And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according
to all that his fathers had done. Now Pharaoh
Nehu put him in prison at Tribla, in the land
of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem.
and he imposed on the land a tribute of 100 talents
of silver and a talent of gold. Then 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 went
to Egypt, and he died there. So Jehoiakim gave
the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed
the land to give money according to the command
of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and gold from
the people of the land, from everyone according
to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho.
Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king,
and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Zebuda, the daughter of Pediah of Rumah,
and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according
to all that his fathers had done. I hope you
enjoyed today's reading as much as I did. And
I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow to
continue on our journey. God bless you and have
a great day.