1   Eight yeares old was Iosias when he began to reigne, & he reigned thirtie and one yeares in Ierusalem.

2   And he did that which was right in the sight of our Lord, and walked in the waies of Dauid his father: he declined not neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

3   And in the eight yeare of his reigne, when he was yet a child, he began to seeke the God of his father Dauid: and the twelfth yeare after he began to reigne, he cleansed Iuda and Ierusalem from excelses, and groues, and idols, & sculptils.

4   And they destroyed before him the altars of Baalim, and the idols, that had bene set vpon them, they destroyed: the groues also and sculptils he cut downe and brake in peeces: and ouer their tombes, that were accustomed to immolate vnto them, he strawed the fragmentes.

5   Moreouer the bones of the Priestes he burnt on the altars of the idols, and he clensed Iuda and Ierusalem.

6   Yea and in the cities of Manasses, and of Ephraim, and of Simeon, vnto Nepthali he ouerthrew al.

7   And when he had destroyed the altars, and the groues, and had broken the idols into peces, and had ouerthrowen al profane temples out of al the land of Israel, he returned into Ierusalem.

8   Therfore in the eightenth yeare of his reigne, the land now clensed, and the temple of our Lord, he sent Saphan the sonne of Eselias, and Maasias the gouernour of the citie, and Ioha the sonne of Ioachaz Commenter, that they should repayre the house of our Lord his God.

9   Who came to Helcias the high priest: and taking of him the money, which had bene brought into the house of our Lord, and which the Leuites and porters had gathered together of Manasses, and

Iosias. Ephraim, and of al the remnant of Israel, of al Iuda also, and Beniamin, and the inhabiters of Ierusalem,

10   they deliuered in their handes, that ouersaw the workemen in the house of our Lord, that they should repayre the temple, and mend al weake partes.

11   But they gaue it to the artificers, and to the masons, that they should bye stones out of the quarries, and timber for the ioyntures of the building, and for making the roofe of the house, which the kinges of Iuda had destroyed.

12   Who did al thinges faithfully. And the ouerseers of the workemen were Iahath & Abdias of the children of Merari, Zacharias and Mosollam of the children of Caath, which vrged the worke: al Leuites skilful to sing on instrumentes.

13   But ouer them, that caried burdens to diuerse vses, were scribes, and masters of the Leuites, and porters.

14   And when they caried forth the money, that had bene brought into the temple of our Lord, Helcias the Priest found the Booke of the law of our Lord, ^note by the hand of Moyses.

15   And he sayd to Saphan the Scribe: I haue found the booke of the law in the house of our Lord: and deliuered it to him.

16   But he brought in the volume to the king, and told him, saying: Al thinges, which thou gauest into the hand of thy seruantes, loe are accomplished.

17   The siluer that was found in the house of our Lord, they haue gathered into a masse: and it was geuen to the ouerseers of the artificers, and of them that make diuerse workes.

18   Moreouer Helcias the Priest deliuered me this booke. Which when he had read in the kinges presence,

19   and he had heard the wordes of the law, he rent his garmentes:

20   and he commanded Helcias, and Ahicam the sonne of Saphan, and Abdon the sonne of Micha, Saphan also the scribe, and Asaa the kinges seruant, saying:

21   Goe, and pray our Lord for me, and for the remnant of Israel, and Iuda, concerning al the wordes of this Booke, which is found: for the great furie of our Lord hath distilled vpon vs, for that our fathers haue not kept the wordes of our Lord, to doe al thinges, that are writen in this volume.

22   Helcias therfore went, and they that were sent together by the king, to Olda a prophetesse, the wife of Sellum the sonne of Thecuath, the sonne of Hasra keeper of the garmentes: who dwelt in Ierusalem in the second part: and they spake to her the wordes, which we haue aboue mentioned.

23   But she answered them: Thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: Tel

Iosias. the man, that sent you to me:

24   Thus sayth our Lord: Behold I wil bring euils vpon this place, and vpon the inhabitantes therof, and al the curses, that are writen in this Booke, which they redde before the king of Iuda.

25   Because they haue forsaken me, and haue sacrificed to strange goddes, that they might prouoke me to wrath in al the workes of their handes, therfore shal my furie droppe vpon this place, & shal not be extinguished.

26   But to the king of Iuda that sent you to beseche our Lord, thus speake ye: Thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: Because thou hast heard the wordes of this volume,

27   and thy hart is mollified, and thou art humbled in the sight of our Lord for these thinges, which are spoken against this place, and the inhabitantes of Ierusalem, and reuerencing my face, hast rent thy garmentes, and wept before me: I also haue heard thee, sayth our Lord.

28    ^noteFor now wil I gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be brought into thy graue in peace: neither shal thyne eies see al the euil that I wil bring in vpon this place, and vpon the inhabitantes therof. They therfore reported to the king al thinges that she had sayd.

29   But he calling together al the ancientes of Iuda and Ierusalem,

30   went vp into the house of our Lord, and al the men of Iuda, and the inhabitantes of Ierusalem, Priestes and Leuites, and al the people from the least to the greatest. In whose hearing in the house of our Lord, the king read al the wordes of the volume.

31   And standing on his tribunal seate, he made a couenant before our Lord, that he would walke after him, and keepe his preceptes, and testimonies, and iustifications in al his hart, and in al his soule, and would do the thinges that were writen in that volume, which he had read.

32   He adiured also vpon this al that were found in Ierusalem, and Beniamin: and the inhabitantes of Ierusalem did according to the couenant, of our Lord the God of their fathers.

33   Iosias therfore tooke away al abominations of al the countries of the children of Israel: and made al, that were left in Israel, to serue our Lord their God. Al his daies they reuolted not from our Lord the God of their fathers.

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