2 Kings 22:13-17

13 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

14 Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.

15 She said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me,

16 ‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read.

17 Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all the idols their hands have made,^[a] my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’

2 Kings 22:13-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 22

This chapter begins with the age and character of Josiah king of Judah, 2Ki 22:1-2, relates his orders for repairing the temple, 2Ki 22:3-7, his attention to the book of the law, which was found, and read to him, and the effect it had upon him, 2Ki 22:8-11, the command he gave to certain persons to inquire of the Lord about it, who applied to Huldah the prophetess, 2Ki 22:12-14, who returned an answer by them to the king, foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, and giving the reason of it, and at the same time assuring the king it should not be in his days, 2Ki 22:15-20.

Cross References

• 1. S Genesis 25:22; S 1 Samuel 9:9
• 2. Deuteronomy 29:24-28; S Deuteronomy 31:17; Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 42:25; Amos 2:4
• 3. S Exodus 15:20
• 4. S Deuteronomy 31:29; S Joshua 23:15; Jeremiah 6:19; Jeremiah 11:11; Jeremiah 18:11; Jeremiah 35:17
• 5. Deuteronomy 29:27; Daniel 9:11
• 6. S 1 Kings 9:9; Deuteronomy 29:25-27

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "by everything they have done"