2 Chronicles 34:1-13

Josiah Succeeds Amon in Judah

1 ¹Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one * years in Jerusalem.

2 ²He did right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

3 For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to ³seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth * year he began ⁴to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images.

4 They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and ⁵the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down; also the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces and ⁶ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

5 Then ⁷he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem.

6 ⁸In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, even as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins,

7 he also tore down the altars and ⁹beat the Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Repairs the Temple

8 ¹⁰Now in the eighteenth * year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah ¹¹an official of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.

9 They came to ¹²Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the doorkeepers, had collected from ¹³Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

10 Then they gave it into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and the workmen who were working in the house of the LORD used it to restore and repair the house.

11 They in turn gave it to the carpenters and to the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for couplings and to make beams for the houses ¹⁴which the kings of Judah had let go to ruin.

12 ¹⁵The men did the work faithfully with foremen over them to supervise: Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites of the sons of Merari, Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites, and ¹⁶the Levites, all who were skillful with musical instruments.

13 They were also over ¹⁷the burden bearers, and supervised all the workmen * from job to job; and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.

2 Chronicles 34:1-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 34

This chapter begins with the good reign of Josiah, the reformation he made in the land, purging it from idolatry, 2Ch 34:1-7, relates the orders he gave to repair the house of the Lord, which was accordingly done, 2Ch 34:8-13, when the book of the law was found and brought to him, which greatly affected him, 2Ch 34:12-19, upon which he deputed some persons to inquire of the Lord, who did of Huldah the prophetess, to whom she gave an answer, which they returned to the king, 2Ch 34:20-28 and the chapter is concluded with an account of reading the book in the ears of all the people, and of the king, and then making a covenant with the Lord to serve him, 2Ch 34:27-33.

Of these two verses, \\see Gill on "2Ki 22:1"\\, \\see Gill on "2Ki 22:2"\\. 19893-950128-2136-2Ch34.2

Cross References

• 1. 2 Kings 22:1, 2; Jeremiah 1:2; Jeremiah 3:6
• 2. 2 Chronicles 29:2
• 3. 2 Chronicles 15:2; Proverbs 8:17
• 4. 1 Kings 13:2; 2 Chronicles 33:22
• 5. 2 Kin 23:4, 5, 11
• 6. Exodus 32:20
• 7. 1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 23:20
• 8. 2 Kings 23:15, 19
• 9. 2 Chronicles 31:1
• 10. 2 Kings 22:3-20
• 11. 2 Chronicles 18:25
• 12. 2 Chronicles 35:8
• 13. 2 Chronicles 30:10, 18
• 14. 2 Chronicles 33:4-7
• 15. 2 Kings 12:15
• 16. 1 Chronicles 25:1
• 17. Nehemiah 4:10

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "guardians of the threshold"
• [b]. Lit "from the hand of"
• [c]. Lit "gave"