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2 Kings 21:1-23:30

The Book Found in the House

Lyrics · 2 Kings

The Book Found in the House

2 Kings 21:1-23:30

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About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the 2 Kings collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

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2 Kings
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2 Kings
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[Verse 1] Manasseh begins a fifty-five-year reign and imitates the nations' abominations. Altars to the heavenly host enter the courts of the LORD's house. A carved grove image is placed within the temple. Prophets announce Jerusalem will be wiped like a dish and abandoned. [Pre-Chorus] The people drew near, but not by careless way, Holiness ordered every word and day. [Chorus] The Book Found in the House, keep the covenant in view, Every word and ordered service true. From altar, ark, and house the witness rose, The holy God alone the ending knows. [Verse 2] In Josiah's eighteenth year Shaphan is sent to oversee temple repairs. Hilkiah discovers the book of the law in the house of the LORD. Shaphan reads the book before the king. Huldah confirms coming judgment but promises Josiah a peaceful gathering. [Bridge] Josiah makes covenant to follow the LORD with all heart and soul. Temple idols, high places, corrupt priests, sodomites, and Topheth are removed. The Bethel altar is destroyed while the man of God's tomb is spared. Josiah keeps an unparalleled Passover, removes occult practices. [Final Chorus] The Book Found in the House, keep the covenant in view, Every word and ordered service true. From altar, ark, and house the witness rose, The holy God alone the witness shows. [Outro] The lamps burned low, the ordered service stayed. The covenant remembered every vow that had been made.

Named in this songManassehJerusalemJosiahBethel

About the passage

2 Kings 21: What Hezekiah removed, Manasseh restores

Manasseh's fifty-five years reverse Hezekiah's reforms with startling thoroughness. High places return, rival altars enter the LORD's house, the heavenly host is worshiped in the temple courts, and a carved image stands inside the sanctuary where the LORD had placed his name. Prophets answer by measuring Jerusalem with the same line used for Samaria and Ahab's house. The judgment is pictured with both construction tools and a wiped, overturned dish. The chapter then adds innocent blood to the indictment, making clear that Manasseh's legacy is not confined to religious objects. Amon continues his father's course but lasts only two years before servants kill him. The people execute the conspirators and preserve the Davidic succession by placing Josiah on the throne, though reform has not yet begun.

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2 Kings 22: The repair work uncovers a greater breach

Josiah begins with a familiar problem: the temple needs repair. Money is gathered, trustworthy workers are paid, and carpenters, builders, and masons address the building's breaches. Then Hilkiah finds the book of the law, and the chapter's center of gravity shifts. Shaphan reads it to the king, Josiah tears his clothes, and what looked like a maintenance project becomes a covenant crisis. The delegation goes to Huldah, whose authority is accepted without hesitation in the account. Her first message confirms judgment on Jerusalem for abandonment of the LORD. Her second distinguishes Josiah's tender response, tears, and humility. He will not see the coming disaster, though the sentence itself remains. The reform to come therefore begins under a word that is both personally merciful and nationally unresolved.

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2 Kings 23: A covenant renewed before the judgment falls

Josiah takes the book out of the palace and makes its words public. King, priests, prophets, elders, and people hear the covenant, and the response becomes visible across the land. Temple vessels for rival worship are burned, high places are defiled, Topheth is disabled, solar objects and old royal altars are removed, and the reform reaches Bethel, where an oracle from 1 Kings 13 is fulfilled. Passover then shows the positive side of the covenant response, not merely the destruction of forbidden things. Josiah receives exceptional praise for turning to the LORD with heart, soul, and might. Then comes the chapter's terrible hinge: “Notwithstanding.” Judgment on Judah remains. Josiah dies at Megiddo, and his sons quickly fall under Egyptian control, ending the chapter with tribute, renaming, and a return to adverse royal assessments.

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