1. Josiah was 8 years old when he became king, and he ruled for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah; she was Adaiah’s daughter and was from Bozkath.
2. He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, and walked in the ways of his ancestor David—not deviating from it even a bit to the right or left.
3. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s rule, he sent the secretary Shaphan, Azaliah’s son and Meshullam’s grandson, to the Lord’s temple with the following orders:
4. "Go to the high priest Hilkiah. Have him carefully count the money that has been brought to the Lord’s temple and that has been collected from the people by the doorkeepers.
5. It should be given to the supervisors in charge of the Lord’s temple, who in turn should pay it to those who are in the Lord’s temple, repairing the temple—
6. the carpenters, the builders, and the masons. It should be used to pay for lumber and quarried stone to repair the temple.
7. But there’s no need to check on them regarding the money they receive, because they are honest workers."