Nun

Josiah Reads the Book of the Covenant

23 ^(A)Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ² And the king went up to the house of Yahweh and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and ^(B)he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant ^(C)which was found in the house of Yahweh. ^3 (D)Then the king stood by the pillar and cut a covenant before Yahweh, ^(E)to walk after Yahweh, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to establish the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people ^[a]entered into the covenant.

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and ^(F)the priests of the second order and the ^[b]doorkeepers, ^(G)to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made for Baal, for ^[c]Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and ^(H)he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ And he did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed and who burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, as well as those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the ^(I)host of heaven. ⁶ And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ^(J)ground it to dust, and ^(K)threw its dust on the graves of the ^[d]common people. ⁷ He also tore down the houses of the ^(L)male cult prostitutes which were in the house of Yahweh, where ^(M)the women were weaving ^[e]hangings for the Asherah. ⁸ Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from ^(N)Geba to Beersheba; and he tore down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the ruler of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate.

Josiah Celebrates the Passover

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people saying, “^(A)Celebrate the Passover to Yahweh your God ^(B)as it is written in this book of the covenant.” ^22 (C)For such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to Yahweh in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, ^(D)the mediums and the spiritists and the ^(E)teraphim and ^(F)the idols and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah purged in order ^(G)that he might ^[a]establish the words of the law which were written ^(H)in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Yahweh. ²⁵ And before him there was no king ^(I)like him who turned to Yahweh with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

The Gospel of the Glory of Christ

4 Therefore, since we have this ^(A)ministry, as we ^(B)received mercy, we ^(C)do not lose heart, ² but we have renounced the ^(D)hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness or ^(E)adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth ^(F)commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our ^(G)gospel is ^(H)veiled, it is veiled ^[a]to ^(I)those who are perishing, ⁴ in whose case ^(J)the god of ^(K)this age has ^(L)blinded the minds of the unbelieving ^[b]so that they might not see the ^(M)light of the gospel of the ^(N)glory of Christ, who is the ^(O)image of God. ⁵ For we ^(P)do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves ^[c]for the sake of Jesus. ⁶ For God, who said, “^(Q)Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has ^(R)shone in our hearts to give the ^(S)Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in ^(T)earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of ^(U)the power will be of God and not from ourselves; ^8 (V)in every way afflicted, but not ^(W)crushed; ^(X)perplexed, but not despairing; ^9 (Y)persecuted, but not ^(Z)forsaken; ^(AA)struck down, but not destroyed; ^10 (AB)always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that ^(AC)the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death works in us, but life in you.