The Daily Audio Bible

³ And it cometh to pass, in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, the king hath sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of Jehovah, saying,

⁴ `Go up unto Hilkiah the high priest, and he doth complete the silver that is brought into the house of Jehovah, that the keepers of the threshold have gathered from the people,

⁵ and they give it into the hand of the doers of the work, the overseers, in the house of Jehovah, and they give it to the doers of the work that [is] in the house of Jehovah, to strengthen the breach of the house,

⁶ to artificers, and to builders, and [to repairers of] the wall, and to buy wood and hewn stones to strengthen the house;

⁷ only, the silver that is given into their hand is not reckoned with them, for in faithfulness they are dealing.

⁸ And Hilkiah the high priest saith unto Shaphan the scribe, `A book of the law I have found in the house of Jehovah;' and Hilkiah giveth the book unto Shaphan, and he readeth it.

⁹ And Shaphan the scribe cometh in unto the king, and bringeth the king back word, and saith, `Thy servants have poured out the silver that hath been found in the house, and give it into the hand of the doers of the work, the inspectors, in the house of Jehovah.'

¹⁰ And Shaphan the scribe declareth to the king, saying, `A book hath Hilkiah the priest given to me;' and Shaphan readeth it before the king.

¹¹ And it cometh to pass, at the king's hearing the words of the book of the law, that he rendeth his garments,

¹² and the king commandeth Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam son of Shaphan, and Achbor son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah servant of the king, saying,

¹³ `Go, seek Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found, for great [is] the fury of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because that our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according to all that is written for us.'

¹⁴ And Hilkiah the priest goeth, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, unto Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the garments, and she is dwelling in Jerusalem in the second, and they speak unto her.

¹⁵ And she saith unto them, `Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Say to the man who hath sent you unto me:

¹⁶ Thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am bringing in evil unto this place and on its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah hath read,

¹⁷ because that they have forsaken Me, and make perfume to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger with every work of their hands, and My wrath hath been kindled against this place, and it is not quenched.

¹⁸ `And unto the king of Judah, who is sending you to seek Jehovah, thus do ye say unto him, Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, The words that thou hast heard --

¹⁹ because thy heart [is] tender, and thou art humbled because of Jehovah, in thy hearing that which I have spoken against this place, and against its inhabitants, to be for a desolation, and for a reviling, and dost rend thy garments, and weep before Me -- I also have heard -- the affirmation of Jehovah --

²⁰ therefore, lo, I am gathering thee unto thy fathers, and thou hast been gathered unto thy grave in peace, and thine eyes do not look on any of the evil that I am bringing in on this place;' and they bring the king back word.

23 And the king sendeth, and they gather unto him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem,

² and the king goeth up to the house of Jehovah, and every man of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from small unto great, and he readeth in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that is found in the house of Jehovah.

³ And the king standeth by the pillar, and maketh the covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep His commands, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all the heart, and with all the soul, to establish the words of this covenant that are written on this book, and all the people stand in the covenant.

⁴ And the king commandeth Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out from the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that are made for Baal, and for the shrine, and for all the host of the heavens, and he burneth them at the outside of Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and hath borne their ashes to Beth-El.

⁵ And he hath caused to cease the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah have appointed, (and they make perfume in high places, in cities of Judah and suburbs of Jerusalem,) and those making perfume to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the heavens.

⁶ And he bringeth out the shrine from the house of Jehovah to the outside of Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burneth it at the brook Kidron, and beateth it small to dust, and casteth its dust on the grave of the sons of the people.

⁷ And he breaketh down the houses of the whoremongers that [are] in the house of Jehovah, where the women are weaving houses for the shrine.

⁸ And he bringeth in all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defileth the high places where the priests have made perfume, from Geba unto Beer-Sheba, and hath broken down the high places of the gates that [are] at the opening of the gate of Joshua, head of the city, that [is] on a man's left hand at the gate of the city;

⁹ only, the priests of the high places come not up unto the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they have eaten unleavened things in the midst of their brethren.

¹⁰ And he hath defiled Topheth, that [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no man doth cause his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech.

¹¹ And he causeth to cease the horses that the kings of Judah have given to the sun from the entering in of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, that [is] in the suburbs, and the chariots of the sun he hath burnt with fire.

¹² And the altars that [are] on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, that the kings of Judah made, and the altars that Manasseh made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, hath the king broken down, and removeth thence, and hath cast their dust unto the brook Kidron.

¹³ And the high places that [are] on the front of Jerusalem, that [are] on the right of the mount of corruption, that Solomon king of Israel had built to Ashtoreth abomination of the Zidonians, and Chemosh abomination of Moab, and to Milcom abomination of the sons of Ammon, hath the king defiled.

¹⁴ And he hath broken in pieces the standing-pillars, and cutteth down the shrines, and filleth their place with bones of men;

¹⁵ and also the altar that [is] in Beth-El, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat made, by which he made Israel sin, both that altar and the high place he hath broken down, and doth burn the high place -- he hath beat it small to dust, and hath burnt the shrine.

¹⁶ And Josiah turneth, and seeth the graves that [are] there in the mount, and sendeth and taketh the bones out of the graves, and burneth [them] on the altar, and defileth it, according to the word of Jehovah that the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

¹⁷ And he saith, `What [is] this sign that I see?' and the men of the city say unto him, `The grave of the man of God who hath come from Judah, and proclaimeth these things that thou hast done concerning the altar of Beth-El.'

¹⁸ And he saith, `Let him alone, let no man touch his bones;' and they let his bones escape, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.

¹⁹ And also all the houses of the high places that [are] in the cities of Samaria, that the kings of Israel made to provoke to anger, hath Josiah turned aside, and doth to them according to all the deeds that he did in Beth-El.

²⁰ And he slayeth all the priests of the high places who [are] there by the altars, and burneth the bones of man upon them, and turneth back to Jerusalem.

²¹ And the king commandeth the whole of the people, saying, `Make ye a passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written on this book of the covenant.'

²² Surely there hath not been made like this passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, even all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah;

²³ but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, hath this passover been made to Jehovah in Jerusalem.

²⁴ And also, those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, hath Josiah put away, in order to establish the words of the law that are written on the book that Hilkiah the priest hath found in the house of Jehovah.

²⁵ And like him there hath not been before him a king who turned back unto Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, and after him there hath none risen like him.

²⁶ Only, Jehovah hath not turned back from the fierceness of His great anger with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh provoked him,

²⁷ and Jehovah saith, `Also Judah I turn aside from my presence, as I turned Israel aside, and I have rejected this city that I have chosen -- Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name is there.'

²⁸ And the rest of the matters of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁹ In his days hath Pharaoh-Nechoh king of Egypt come up against the king of Asshur, by the river Phrat, and king Josiah goeth out to meet him, and he putteth him to death in Megiddo, when he seeth him.

³⁰ And his servants cause him to ride dying from Megiddo, and bring him in to Jerusalem, and bury him in his own grave, and the people of the land take Jehoahaz son of Josiah, and anoint him, and cause him to reign instead of his father.

³⁷ And Paul being about to be led into the castle, saith to the chief captain, `Is it permitted to me to say anything unto thee?' and he said, `Greek dost thou know?

³⁸ art not thou, then, the Egyptian who before these days made an uprising, and did lead into the desert the four thousand men of the assassins?'

³⁹ And Paul said, `I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, of Tarsus of Cilicia, of no mean city a citizen; and I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.'

⁴⁰ And he having given him leave, Paul having stood upon the stairs, did beckon with the hand to the people, and there having been a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew dialect, saying:

22 `Men, brethren, and fathers, hear my defence now unto you;' --

² and they having heard that in the Hebrew dialect he was speaking to them, gave the more silence, and he saith, --

³ `I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactitude of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all ye are to-day.

⁴ `And this way I persecuted unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women,

⁵ as also the chief priest doth testify to me, and all the eldership; from whom also having received letters unto the brethren, to Damascus, I was going on, to bring also those there bound to Jerusalem that they might be punished,

⁶ and it came to pass, in my going on and coming nigh to Damascus, about noon, suddenly out of the heaven there shone a great light round about me,

⁷ I fell also to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute?

⁸ `And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? and he said unto me, I am Jesus the Nazarene whom thou dost persecute --

⁹ and they who are with me the light did see, and became afraid, and the voice they heard not of him who is speaking to me --

¹⁰ and I said, What shall I do, Lord? and the Lord said unto me, Having risen, go on to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee concerning all things that have been appointed for thee to do.

¹¹ `And when I did not see from the glory of that light, being led by the hand by those who are with me, I came to Damascus,

¹² and a certain one, Ananias, a pious man according to the law, being testified to by all the Jews dwelling [there],

¹³ having come unto me and stood by [me], said to me, Saul, brother, look up; and I the same hour did look up to him;

¹⁴ and he said, The God of our fathers did choose thee beforehand to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice out of his mouth,

¹⁵ because thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard;

¹⁶ and now, why tarriest thou? having risen, baptize thyself, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord.

1 O the happiness of that one, who Hath not walked in the counsel of the wicked. And in the way of sinners hath not stood, And in the seat of scorners hath not sat;

² But -- in the law of Jehovah [is] his delight, And in His law he doth meditate by day and by night:

³ And he hath been as a tree, Planted by rivulets of water, That giveth its fruit in its season, And its leaf doth not wither, And all that he doth he causeth to prosper.

⁴ Not so the wicked: But -- as chaff that wind driveth away!

⁵ Therefore the wicked rise not in judgment, Nor sinners in the company of the righteous,

⁶ For Jehovah is knowing the way of the righteous, And the way of the wicked is lost!

¹¹ The wealth of the rich [is] the city of his strength, And as a wall set on high in his own imagination.

¹² Before destruction the heart of man is high, And before honour [is] humility.