The king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the people of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD — Josiah conducts a public reading of the discovered Torah (called here 'the book of the covenant'). The comprehensive gathering—elders, people, priests, prophets, all inhabitants—indicates a national religious assembly. The public reading (וַיִּקְרָא בְאָזְנֵיהֶם, *way-yikra be-ozneihem*, 'he read in their hearing') makes the covenant text's demands known to all social ranks. The reading becomes the foundation for subsequent covenantal commitment.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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