2 Raja-raja 23:1-3

The King Institutes Religious Reform

23:1 The king summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. ¹  23:2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud ²  all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple. 23:3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed ³  the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow ⁴  the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, ⁵  by carrying out the terms ⁶  of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant. ⁷ 

2 Raja-raja 23:21-23

23:21 The king ordered all the people, “Observe the Passover of the Lord your God, as prescribed in this scroll of the covenant.” 23:22 He issued this edict because ⁸  a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah. ⁹  23:23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, such a Passover of the Lord was observed in Jerusalem.

[23:1]  ¹ tn Heb “and the king sent and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him.”

[23:1]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[23:2]  ² tn Heb “read in their ears.”

[23:3]  ³ tn Heb “cut,” that is, “made, agreed to.”

[23:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “walk after.”

[23:3]  ⁵ tn Or “soul.”

[23:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “words.”

[23:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “stood in the covenant.”

[23:22]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text has simply “because.” The translation attempts to reflect more clearly the logical connection between the king’s order and the narrator’s observation. Another option is to interpret כִּי (ki) as asseverative and translate, “indeed.”

[23:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “because there had not been observed [one] like this Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel and all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.”