221 Josiah was eight years old when he became king , and he reigned thirty-one e years in Jerusalem ; and his mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath . 2 He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David , nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left .
3 Now in the eighteenth e year of King Josiah , the king sent Shaphan , the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam the scribe , to the house of the Lord saying , 4 " Go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may count the money brought in to the house of the Lord which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people . 5 " Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord , and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages of the house , 6 to the carpenters and the builders and the masons and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house . 7 "Only no accounting shall be made with them for the money delivered into their hands , for they deal faithfully ." 8 Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe , " I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord ." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it. 9 Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said , "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house , and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord ." 10 Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying , "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book ." And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king .
11 When the king heard the words of the book of the law , he tore his clothes . 12 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest , Ahikam the son of Shaphan , Achbor the son of Micaiah , Shaphan the scribe , and Asaiah the king's servant saying , 13 "Go , inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found , for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because e our fathers have not listened to the words of this book , to do according to all that is written concerning us." 14 So Hilkiah the priest , Ahikam , Achbor , Shaphan , and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess , the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah , the son of Harhas , keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her. 15 She said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel , 'Tell the man who sent you to me, 16 thus says the Lord , "Behold , I bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants , even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read . 17 " Because e they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands , therefore My wrath burns against this place , and it shall not be quenched ."' 18 "But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord thus shall you say to him, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel , "Regarding the words which you have heard , 19 because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before e the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse , and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares the Lord . 20 "Therefore , behold , I will gather you to your fathers , and you will be gathered to your grave in peace , and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place .""' So they brought back word to the king .
231 Then the king sent , and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem . 2 The king went up to the house of the Lord 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 he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord . 3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord , to walk after the Lord , and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul , to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book . And all the people entered into the covenant .
4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers , to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal , for Asherah , and for all the host of heaven ; and he burned them outside e Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron , and carried their ashes to Bethel 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem , also those who burned incense to Baal , to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the host of heaven . 6 He brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside e Jerusalem to the brook Kidron , and burned it at the brook Kidron , and ground it to dust , and threw its dust on the graves of the common people . 7 He also broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord , where e the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah . 8 Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah , and defiled the high places where e the priests had burned incense , from Geba to Beersheba ; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city , which were on one's left at the city gate . 9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem , but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers . 10 He also defiled Topheth , which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom , that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for Molech . 11 He did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun , at the entrance of the house of the Lord , by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official , which was in the precincts ; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire . 12 The altars which were on the roof , the upper chamber of Ahaz , which the kings of Judah had made , and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord , the king broke down ; and he smashed them there and threw their dust into the brook Kidron . 13 The high places which were before e Jerusalem , which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians , and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab , and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon , the king defiled . 14 He broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with human bones 15 Furthermore , the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat , who made Israel sin , had made , even that altar and the high place he broke down . Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust , and burned the Asherah . 16 Now when Josiah turned , he saw the graves that were there on the mountain , and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed , who proclaimed these things . 17 Then he said , "What is this monument that I see ?" And the men of the city told him, " It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel ." 18 He said , "Let him alone ; let no one disturb his bones ." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria . 19 Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria , which the kings of Israel had made provoking the Lord ; and he did to them just e as he had done in Bethel 20 All the priests of the high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem .
21 Then the king commanded all the people saying , " Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this book of the covenant . 22 Surely 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 e year of King Josiah , this Passover was observed to the Lord in Jerusalem .
24 Moreover , Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem , that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord .
25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord 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. 26 However , the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah , because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27 The Lord said , "I will remove Judah also from My sight , as I have removed Israel . And I will cast off Jerusalem , this city which I have chosen , and the temple of which I said , 'My name shall be there .' "
28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did , are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles e of the Kings of Judah ? 29 In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates . And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at Megiddo . 30 His servants drove his body in a chariot from Megiddo , and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb . Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father .
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three e years old when he became king , and he reigned three months in Jerusalem ; and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah . 32 He did evil in the sight of the Lord , according to all that his fathers had done . 33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath , that he might not reign in Jerusalem ; and he imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold . 34 Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father , and changed his name to Jehoiakim . But he took Jehoahaz away and brought him to Egypt , and he died there . 35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh , but he taxed the land in order to give the money at the command of Pharaoh . He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land , each according to his valuation , to give it to Pharaoh Neco .
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five e years old when he became king , and he reigned eleven e years in Jerusalem ; and his mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah 37 He did evil in the sight of the Lord , according to all that his fathers had done .
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying , " Rabbi , eat ." 32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about ." 33 So the disciples were saying to one another , "No one brought Him anything to eat , did he?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work . 35 "Do you not say , 'There are yet four months , and then comes the harvest '? Behold , I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields , that they are white for harvest . 36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal ; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together . 37 "For in this case the saying is true , ' One sows and another reaps .' 38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored ; others have labored and you have entered into their labor ." 39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified , " He told me all the things that I have done ." 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days . 41 Many more believed because of His word ; 42 and they were saying to the woman , "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe , for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world ."
43 After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee . 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country . 45 So when He came to Galilee , the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast ; for they themselves also went to the feast . 46 Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine . And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum . 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee , he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son ; for he was at the point of death . 48 So Jesus said to him, "Unless e you people see signs and wonders , you simply will not believe ." 49 The royal official said to Him, "Sir , come down before my child dies ." 50 Jesus said to him, " Go ; your son lives ." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. 51 As he was now going down , his slaves met him, saying that his son was living . 52 So he inquired of them the hour when e he began to get better . Then they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives "; and he himself believed and his whole household . 54 This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee .
(Read John 4:27-42)
The disciples wondered that Christ talked thus with a Samaritan. Yet they knew it was for some good reason, and for some good end. Thus when particular difficulties occur in the word and providence of God, it is good to satisfy ourselves that all is well that Jesus Christ says and does. Two things affected the woman. The extent of his knowledge. Christ knows all the thoughts, words, and actions, of all the children of men. And the power of his word. He told her secret sins with power. She fastened upon that part of Christ's discourse, many would think she would have been most shy of repeating; but the knowledge of Christ, into which we are led by conviction of sin, is most likely to be sound and saving. They came to him: those who would know Christ, must meet him where he records his name. Our Master has left us an example, that we may learn to do the will of God as he did; with diligence, as those that make a business of it; with delight and pleasure in it. Christ compares his work to harvest-work. The harvest is appointed and looked for before it comes; so was the gospel. Harvest-time is busy time; all must be then at work. Harvest-time is a short time, and harvest-work must be done then, or not at all; so the time of the gospel is a season, which if once past, cannot be recalled. God sometimes uses very weak and unlikely instruments for beginning and carrying on a good work. Our Saviour, by teaching one poor woman, spread knowledge to a whole town. Blessed are those who are not offended at Christ. Those taught of God, are truly desirous to learn more. It adds much to the praise of our love to Christ and his word, if it conquers prejudices. Their faith grew. In the matter of it: they believed him to be the Saviour, not only of the Jews but of the world. In the certainty of it: we know that this is indeed the Christ. And in the ground of it, for we have heard him ourselves.
(Read John 4:43-54)
The father was a nobleman, yet the son was sick. Honours and titles are no security from sickness and death. The greatest men must go themselves to God, must become beggars. The nobleman did not stop from his request till he prevailed. But at first he discovered the weakness of his faith in the power of Christ. It is hard to persuade ourselves that distance of time and place, are no hinderance to the knowledge, mercy, and power of our Lord Jesus. Christ gave an answer of peace. Christ's saying that the soul lives, makes it alive. The father went his way, which showed the sincerity of his faith. Being satisfied, he did not hurry home that night, but returned as one easy in his own mind. His servants met him with the news of the child's recovery. Good news will meet those that hope in God's word. Diligent comparing the works of Jesus with his word, will confirm our faith. And the bringing the cure to the family brought salvation to it. Thus an experience of the power of one word of Christ, may settle the authority of Christ in the soul. The whole family believed likewise. The miracle made Jesus dear to them. The knowledge of Christ still spreads through families, and men find health and salvation to their souls.
