Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.He went up to the Lord’ s temple. The people of Judah and Jerusalem went with him. So did the priests and Levites. All of them went, from the least important of them to the most important. The king had all the words of the Book of the Covenant read to them. The book had been found in the Lord’ s temple.The king stood next to his pillar. He agreed to the terms of the covenant in front of the Lord. The king promised to serve the Lord and obey his commands, directions and rules. He promised to obey them with all his heart and with all his soul. So the king promised to obey the terms of the covenant that were written in that book.Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and in Benjamin commit themselves to the covenant. The people of Jerusalem did it in keeping with the covenant of the God of Israel.Josiah removed all the statues of false gods from the whole territory that belonged to the Israelites. The Lord hated those statues. Josiah had everyone in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they didn’t fail to follow the Lord, the God of their people.
Gather together all the elders of your tribes and all your officials. Bring them to me. Then I can speak these words to them. I can call for the heavens and the earth to be witnesses against them.
