1 Josiah was eight years old when he became the king of Judah. He ruled from Jerusalem for 31 years. His mother was Jedidah and his grandfather was Adaiah from Bozkath town. 2 Josiah did things that were pleasing to Yahweh and conducted his life as his ancestor King David had done. He completely obeyed [IDM] all the laws of God.

3 After Josiah had been ruling for almost 18 years, he sent his secretary Shaphan, the son of Azaliah and grandson of Meshullam, to the temple with these instructions: 4 “Go to Hilkiah, the Supreme Priest, and tell him to give me a report, telling me how much money the men who guard the doors of the temple have collected from the people as offerings. 5 Then tell him to give all that money to the men who are supervising the work of repairing the temple. 6 They must give that money to the carpenters, the builders, and the masons, and they should also buy the timber and the stones that they will use to repair the temple. 7 But the men who supervise the work will not be required to make a report on the money that is given to them, saying what they spent it for, because those men are completely honest.”

8  After Shaphan said that to Hilkiah the king’s secretary, Hilkiah said to Shaphan, “I have found in the temple a scroll on which is written the laws that God gave to Moses!” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, and he started to read it. 9 Then Shaphan took the scroll to the king and said to him, “Your temple guards have taken the money that was in the temple, and they have given it to the men who will supervise the work of repairing the temple.” 10 Then Shaphan said to the king, “I have brought to you a scroll that Hilkiah gave to me.” And Shaphan started to read it to the king.

11 When the king heard the laws that were written in the scroll that Shaphan was reading to him, he tore his clothes because he was very dismayed. 12 Then he gave these instructions to Hilkiah, to Shaphan’s son Ahikam, to Micaiah’s son Achbor, and to Asaiah, the king’s special advisor: 13 “Go and ask Yahweh for me and for all the people of Judah, about what is written in this scroll that has been found. Because it is clear that Yahweh is very angry with us because our ancestors disobeyed what was written on this scroll, things that we should have done.”

14 So Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to ◄consult/talk with► a woman whose name was Huldah, who was a prophetess who lived in the newer/northern part of Jerusalem. Her husband Shallum, son of Tikvah and grandson of Harhas, took care of the robes that were worn in the temple (OR, by the king). Those five men told her about the scroll.

15 She said to them, “This is what Yahweh the God whom we Israelis worship says: ‘Go back and tell the king who sent you 16 that this is what Yahweh says: “Listen to this carefully. I am going to cause all the people who live here in Jerusalem to experience a disaster, which is what was written in the scroll that the king has read. 17 I will do that because they have abandoned me, and they burn incense to honor other gods. They have caused me to become very angry by worshiping all the idols that they have made (OR, by all the wicked things that they have done), and my anger is like [MET] a fire that will not be put out.” 18 The king of Judah sent you to inquire what I, Yahweh, wanted you to do, so this is what you should say to him: “Because you have heeded what was written in the scroll, 19 and you repented and humbled yourself when you heard what I said to warn you about what would happen to this city and the people who live here and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you. I said that I would cause this city to be abandoned. It will be a city whose name people will use when they curse someone. But I have heard what you prayed, 20 so I will allow you to die [EUP] and be buried peacefully. I will cause the people who live here to experience a terrible disaster, but you will not be alive to see it.” ’ ”

After the men heard that, they returned to King Josiah and gave him that message.