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3 And it came to pass in the 18th year of Melech Yoshiyah, that HaMelech sent Shaphan Ben Atzalyahu Ben Meshullam, the Sofer, to the Beis Hashem, saying,
4 Go up to Chilkiyahu the Kohen HaGadol, that he may count the kesef which is brought into the Beis Hashem, which the Shomrei HaSaf (the Doorkeepers) have collected of the people;
5 And let them entrust it into the yad oseh hamelachah (hand of the master workmen), that have the mufkadim (oversight) of the Beis Hashem; and let them pay it to the workmen that wrought in the Beis Hashem, to repair and restore HaBeis,
6 Unto kharashim (craftsmen, artisans) and bonim (builders) and goderim (masons), and to purchase etzim (timber) and quarried stone to repair HaBeis.
7 Howbeit there was no accounting made with them of the kesef that was entrusted into their yad, because they dealt be’emunah (faithfully).
8 And Chilkiyahu the Kohen HaGadol said unto Shaphan the Sofer, I have found the Sefer HaTorah in the Beis Hashem. And Chilkiyahu gave the Sefer to Shaphan, and he read it.
9 And Shaphan the Sofer came to HaMelech, brought HaMelech word again, and said, Thy avadim have emptied out the kesef that was found in HaBeis [HaMikdash], and have entrusted it into the yad osei hamelachah, that have the mufkadim of the Beis Hashem.
10 And Shaphan the Sofer showed HaMelech, saying, Chilkiyah the Kohen hath delivered unto me a Sefer (Scroll). And Shaphan read it before HaMelech.
11 And it came to pass, when HaMelech had heard the Divrei Sefer HaTorah, that he tore his garments.
12 And HaMelech commanded Chilkiyah HaKohen, and Achikam Ben Shaphan, and Achbor Ben Michayah, and Shaphan the Sofer, and Asayah Eved HaMelech, saying,
13 Go ye, inquire of Hashem for me, and for HaAm, and for kol Yehudah, concerning the Divrei HaSefer that is found; for gedolah is chamat Hashem that is kindled against us, because Avoteinu have not paid heed unto the Divrei HaSefer Hazeh, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
14 So Chilkiyahu HaKohen, and Achikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asayah, went unto Chuldah the neviah, the wife of Shallum ben Tikvah, ben Charchas, Shomer HaBegadim (Keeper of the Wardrobe); (now she dwelt in Yerushalayim in the Mishneh); and they spoke with her.
15 And she said unto them, Thus saith Hashem Elohei Yisroel, Tell the ish that sent you to me,
16 Thus saith Hashem, Hineni, I will bring ra’ah upon this makom (place), and upon the inhabitants thereof, even kol Divrei HaSefer which Melech Yehudah hath read;
17 Because they have forsaken Me, and have burned ketoret unto elohim acherim, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore My wrath shall be kindled against this makom (place), and shall not be quenched.
18 But to Melech Yehudah which sent you to inquire of Hashem, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith Hashem Elohei Yisroel, As touching the words which thou hast heard;
19 Because thine lev was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before Hashem, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a klalah (curse), and hast torn thy garments, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith Hashem.
20 Hineni, therefore, I will gather thee unto Avoteicha, and thou shalt be gathered into thy kevarot in shalom; and thine eyes shall not see kol hara’ah which I will bring upon this place. And they brought back word to HaMelech.
23 And HaMelech sent, and they gathered unto him kol Ziknei Yehudah and of Yerushalayim.
2 And HaMelech went up into the Beis Hashem, and kol ish Yehudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim with him, and the Kohanim, and the Nevi’im, and kol HaAm, both katon and gadol; and he read in their ears all the Divrei Sefer HaBrit which was found in the Beis Hashem.
3 And HaMelech stood by HaAmmud, and cut HaBrit before Hashem, to walk after Hashem, and to be shomer mitzvot over His commandments and His edot and His chukkot with all their lev and all their nefesh, to carry out these Divrei HaBrit that were written in this Sefer. And kol HaAm stood [under oath] to HaBrit.
4 And HaMelech commanded Chilkiyahu HaKohen HaGadol, and the Kohanei HaMishneh, and the Shomrei HaSaf, to bring forth out of the Heikhal Hashem all the kelim that were made for Ba’al, and for Asherah, and for all the Tzeva HaShomayim; and he burned them outside Yerushalayim in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beit-El.
5 And he did away with hakemarim (the idol priests), whom the Melachim of Yehudah had ordained to burn ketoret in the high places in the towns of Yehudah, and in the places around Yerushalayim; them also that burned ketoret unto Ba’al, to the shemesh, and to the yarei’ach, and to the mazalot (constellations) and to all the Tzeva HaShomayim.
6 And he took out the Asherah from the Beis Hashem, outside Yerushalayim, unto the Kidron Valley, and burned it in the Kidron Valley, and ground it to powder, and cast its aphar upon the keverim of the Bnei HaAm [i.e., them that sacrificed unto them].
7 And he tore down the batim (houses) of hakedeshim (the male and female cult prostitutes) that were in the Beis Hashem, where the nashim were weaving hangings for Asherah.
8 And he brought all the Kohanim out of the towns of Yehudah, and made tameh the high places where the kohanim had burned ketoret, from Geva to Beer Sheva, and broke down the high places at the she’arim (gates) that were at the entrance of the Sha’ar Yehoshua sar Ir, which were on one’s left at the Sha’ar HaIr.
9 Nevertheless the kohanim of the high places came not up to the Mizbe’ach Hashem in Yerushalayim, only they did eat of the matzot among their achim.
10 And he made tameh Tophet, which is in the Gey of the ben Hinnom, that no ish might make his ben or his bat to pass through the eish to Molech.
11 And he took away the susim that the Melachim of Yehudah had dedicated to the shemesh, at the entrance of the Beis Hashem, by the chamber of Natan-Melech the saris, which was in the colonnades, and set eish to merkevot hashemesh.
12 And the mizbechot that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the Melachim of Yehudah had made, and the mizbechot which Menasheh had made in the two khatzerot of the Beis Hashem, did HaMelech pull down, and remove them from there, and cast the aphar of them into the Kidron Valley.
13 And the high places that were before Yerushalayim, which were on the right of the Har HaMashchit, which Sh’lomo Melech Yisroel had built for Ashtoret shikkutz Tzidonim, and for Kemosh shikkutz Mo’av, and for Milcom to’avat Bnei Ammon, did HaMelech make tameh.
14 And he broke in pieces the matzevot, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their makom with the atzmot adam.
15 Moreover the mizbe’ach that was at Beit-El, and the high place which Yarov‘am ben Nevat, who caused Yisroel to sin, had made, both that mizbe’ach and the high place did he break down, burn the high place, did grind it to powder, did burn the Asherah.
16 And as Yoshiyah turned, he saw the keverim that were there in the har, and sent, and took the atzmot out of the keverim, and burned them upon the mizbe’ach, and made it tameh, according to the Devar Hashem which the Ish HaElohim preached, who proclaimed these words [See 1Kgs 13:1-2].
17 Then he said, What tziyyun (monument, tombtone) is that that I see? And the anshei HaIr told him, It is the kever of the Ish HaElohim, which came from Yehudah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the mizbe’ach of Beit-El [see 1Kgs 13:1-3].
18 And he said, Let him alone; let no ish disturb his atzmot. So they left his atzmot undisturbed, with the atzmot of the navi that came out of Shomron [see 1Kgs 13:11,31].
19 And all the batim (houses, shrines) also of the high places that were in the towns of Shomron, which the Melachim of Yisroel had made to provoke Hashem to anger, Yoshiyah removed, and did to them according to all the ma’asim that he had done in Beit-El.
20 And he slaughtered all the kohanim of the high places that were there upon the mizbechot, and burned atzmot adam upon them, and returned to Yerushalayim.
21 And HaMelech commanded kol HaAm, saying, Make Pesach unto Hashem Eloheichem, as it is written in the Sefer HaBrit HaZeh.
22 Surely there was not kept such a Pesach from the days of the Shofetim that judged Yisroel, nor in all the days of the Melachim of Yisroel, nor of the Melachim of Yehudah;
23 But in the eighteenth year of Melech Yoshiyah, wherein this Pesach was kept to Hashem in Yerushalayim.
24 Moreover the mediums with familiar spirits, and the yidonim (spiritists), and the terafim, and the gillulim (idols), and all the shikkutzim that were seen in Eretz Yehudah and in Yerushalayim, did Yoshiyah put away, that he might confirm the Divrei HaTorah which were written in the Sefer that Chilkiyah HaKohen found in the Beis Hashem.
25 And like him was there no Melech before him, that turned to Hashem with all his lev, and with all his nefesh, and with all his me’od (strength), according to all the Torat Moshe; neither after him arose there any like him.
26 Notwithstanding Hashem turned not from the fierceness of His af hagadol (great wrath), wherewith His anger was kindled against Yehudah, because of all the provocations with which Menasheh had provoked him.
27 And Hashem said, I will remove Yehudah also out of My presence, as I have removed Yisroel, and will cast off this ir Yerushalayim which I have chosen, and the Beis of which I said, Shmi sham.
28 Now the rest of the acts of Yoshiyah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Sefer Divrei HaYamim of the Melachim of Yehudah?
29 In his days Pharaoh Nekhoh Melech Mitzrayim went up against Melech Ashur to the river Euphrates; and Melech Yoshiyah went out against him; and he slaughtered him at Megiddo, when he saw him.
30 And his avadim carried him in a merkavah dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Yerushalayim, and buried him in his own kever. And the Am HaAretz took Yehoachaz Ben Yoshiyah, and anointed him, and made him Melech in place of Aviv.
37 And just when he was about to be brought into the barracks, Rav Sha’ul says to the Roman tribune, "Is it permissible for me to say something to you?" And the tribune said, "Ellinisti Ginoskeis? (Do you know Greek?)
38 "Then you are not the Egyptian who recently stirred up an intifada and led out four thousand assassins into the wilderness?"
39 And Rav Sha’ul said, "I gufa (myself) am an ish Yehudi from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. And I ask you to allow me to speak to the people."
40 And when the tribune had given permission, Rav Sha’ul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. And a great silence fell upon the crowd. Then Rav Sha’ul addressed the multitude in the language of the Hebrews.
22 Rav Sha’ul said, "Anashim, Achim, Avot, listen now to my hitstaddekut (defense)."
2 And when they heard that Rav Sha’ul was addressing them in the language of the Hebrews, they were even more quiet. And Rav Sha’ul said,
3 "I am an ish Yehudi, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but having been brought up in a yeshiva in this city of Yerushalayim at the feet of Rabban Gamliel, having learned with irreproachable frumkeit according to all machmir chumra strictness the Torah of Avoteinu, and I have a kinat Hashem just as all of you do today; [MELACHIM ALEF 19:10]
4 "I brought redifah on this ‘Derech,’ even to the point of mavet, binding and delivering both anashim and nashim over to the beis hasohar,
5 "As even the Kohen Gadol and all the Zekenim of the Sanhedrin could give solemn eidus for me. For from them I also was authorized with iggrot to the Achim in Damascus, and I was going there to lead away also the ones who were there in order to bring them bound back to Yerushalayim to have them punished.
6 "And it happened to me while traveling and drawing near to Damascus, lav davka (approximately) noon, suddenly from Shomayim, a very bright ohr (light) shone around me;
7 "And I fell to the ground. Then I heard a bat kol saying to me, ‘Sha’ul, Sha’ul, why are you bringing redifah on me?'’
8 "And I answered, ‘Who are you, Adoni?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Yehoshua of Natzeret, upon whom you are bringing redifah.’
9 "And the ones with me saw the ohr (light) but they did not have real hearing (understanding) of the voice speaking to me.
10 "And I said, ‘What shall I do, Adoni?'’ And HaAdon said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything which has been appointed for you to do.'’
11 "And because I had been blinded from the kavod (glory) of that ohr (light), I was led by the hand by the ones who were with me and who led me into Damascus.
12 "A certain man, Chananyah by name, an ehrliche Yid (a truly pious Jew), charedi according to the Torah and with a shem tov with all the Yehudim living in Damascus,
13 "Came to me and stood next to me, saying, ‘Ach b’Moshiach Sha’ul, receive your sight.’ And at that moment I looked up at him.
14 "And he said, ‘Elohei Avoteinu has chosen and appointed you to have da’as of His ratzon (will) and to see the Tzaddik [Moshiach] and to hear the kol (voice) from His mouth.
15 ‘For you will be an eidus (witness) to him to all anashim of what you have seen and heard.
16 ‘And now what do you intend to do? Get up and receive Moshiach’s tevilah of teshuva and wash away your averos (sins) by calling upon SHMO.' [VAYIKRA 8:6; TEHILLIM 51:2; YECHEZKEL 36:25; YOEL 3:5(2:32) ZECHARYAH 6:12]
1 Blessed is the ish that walketh not in the Etzah (counsel, scheme) of the Resha’im, nor standeth in the Derech Chatta’im, nor sitteth in the Moshav (seat) of the Leitzim (scornful, ones mocking and reviling).
2 But his delight is in the Torat Hashem; and in His torah doth he meditate yomam v’lailah.
3 And he shall be like an etz planted by the streams of mayim, that bringeth forth its p’ri in its season; the leaf thereof also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The Resha’im are not so, but are like the chaff which the ruach driveth away.
5 Therefore the Resha’im shall not stand in the Mishpat, nor Chatta’im (sinners) in the Adat Tzaddikim.
6 For Hashem knoweth the Derech Tzaddikim, but the Derech Resha’im shall perish. T.N. The next Psalm says that the whole world, all the earth, is, or will be, the possession of Moshiach, and that Hashem assures Moshiach of this; therefore, the Great Commission (Mt 28:19-20) was given to preach Moshiach to the ends of the earth that the whole world may hear.
11 The oisher’s wealth is his strong city, and is a high chomah in his own conceit.
12 Before shever (destruction) the lev ish is haughty, and before kavod is anavah (humility).
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