1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king and reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.
2 He did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn to the right or the left.
3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent the court secretary Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple, saying,
4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest so that he may total up the money brought into the Lord’s temple — the money the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
5 It is to be put into the hands of those doing the work — those who oversee the Lord’s temple. They in turn are to give it to the workmen in the Lord’s temple to repair the damage.
6 They are to give it to the carpenters, builders, and masons to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the temple.