1. Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
2. And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the ways of David his ancestor and did not deviate to the right or to the left.
3. In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of David his ancestor. And in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherahs, the idols, and the images.
4. And he destroyed before him the altars for the Baals, and he cut down the incense stands above them. And the Asherahs, the idols, and the images he smashed. And he ground them to powder and sprinkled the dust over the burial sites of those who sacrificed to them.
5. And he burned the bones of the priests on the altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6. And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around,
7. he broke down the altars and the Asherahs and crushed the idols, grinding them to dust, and he cut down all the incense stands in all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
8. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign after he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the commander of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God.
9. And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave the money that was brought for the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the whole remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10. And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen who were appointed in the house of Yahweh, and they in turn gave it to those doing the work who were at work in the house of Yahweh, to repair and restore the house.
11. And they dispensed it to the skilled craftsmen and the builders to buy stone for hewing and timber for the seams and for binding the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed.
12. And the men did the work faithfully. Over them as supervisors were appointed Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites. And other Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song,
13. were over the porters and were directing all who worked on each task. And some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.
14. And when they brought out the money that had been brought to the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.
15. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found a scroll of the law in the house of Yahweh!” Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan.
16. And Shaphan brought the scroll to the king and also informed the king, saying, “All that was put into the hand of your servants they are doing.
17. They have dispensed the money which was found in the house of Yahweh and have put it into the hand of the overseers and those doing the work.”
18. Then Shaphan the scribe reported to the king, “Hilkiah the priest gave to me a scroll.” Then Shaphan read from it before the king.