Day 188: The Book of the Law (2026)

**Fr. Mike Schmitz** (0:04)
Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to The Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using The Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 188 We're reading 2 Kings chapter 22, 2 Chronicles chapter 33, and we are reading now not from Psalms, but from the Book of Proverbs, one of the wisdom books, Proverbs chapter 7, the entire chapter of chapter 7 The Bible translation that I am reading from is the Revised Standard Version, the Second Catholic Edition, and I am using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a Year. You can also subscribe if you'd like to subscribe, but it is day 188 No more comments. We're reading 2 Kings 22, right? Fun to say. We're also reading 2 Chronicles 33, and we are praying, kind of, more getting some wisdom from Proverbs, Chapter 7
The Second Book of Kings, Chapter 22, Josiah Reigns Over Judah.
Josiah was 8 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedediah, the daughter of Adiah of Bozkath, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shefan the son of Azaliah, son of Mishulam the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may reckon the amount of the money which has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, and let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord repairing the house, that is, to the carpenters and to the builders and to the masons, as well as for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money which is delivered into their hands, for they deal honestly. And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shephan the secretary, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the Book to Shephan, and he read it. And Shephan the secretary came to the king and reported to the king, Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord. Then Shephan the secretary told the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book, and Shephan read it before the king.
Josiah hears the law and is penitent. And when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahicham the son of Shephan, and Akhbor the son of Micaiah, and Shephan the secretary, and Asiah the king's servant, saying, Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahicham, and Akhbor, and Shephan, and Asiah went to Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shalom, the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter, and they talked with her. And she said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read, because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands. Therefore, my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Regarding the words which you have heard, because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought back word to the king.