22 This festival had not been celebrated in this way since kings ruled Israel and Judah.
23 But in Josiah's eighteenth year as king of Judah, everyone came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.
24 Josiah got rid of every disgusting person and thing in Judah and Jerusalem—including magicians, fortune-tellers, and idols. He did his best to obey every law written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the Lord's temple.
25 No other king before or after Josiah tried as hard as he did to obey the Law of Moses.
26 But the Lord was still furious with the people of Judah because Manasseh had done so many things to make him angry.
27 The Lord said, “I will desert the people of Judah, just as I deserted the people of Israel. I will reject Jerusalem, even though I chose it to be mine. And I will abandon this temple built to honour me.”
28 Everything else Josiah did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah.