The priest Jehoiada had King Joash and the people join him in making a covenant that they would be the LORD's people.

"I have now decided to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that he will no longer be angry with us.

He stood by the royal column and made a covenant with the LORD to obey him, to keep his laws and commands with all his heart and soul, and to put into practice the demands attached to the covenant, as written in the book.

He made the people of Benjamin and everyone else present in Jerusalem promise to keep the covenant. And so the people of Jerusalem obeyed the requirements of the covenant they had made with the God of their ancestors.

These are the terms of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab; all this was in addition to the covenant which the LORD had made with them at Mount Sinai.

You are here today to enter into this covenant that the LORD your God is making with you and to accept its obligations,

He stood by the royal column and made a covenant with the LORD to obey him, to keep his laws and commands with all his heart and soul, and to put into practice the demands attached to the covenant, as written in the book. And all the people promised to keep the covenant.

Because of all that has happened, we, the people of Israel, hereby make a solemn written agreement, and our leaders, our Levites, and our priests put their seals to it.

do hereby join with our leaders in an oath, under penalty of a curse if we break it, that we will live according to God's Law, which God gave through his servant Moses; that we will obey all that the LORD, our Lord, commands us; and that we will keep all his laws and requirements.

They will ask the way to Zion and then go in that direction. They will make an eternal covenant with me and never break it.

It was more than we could have hoped for! First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God's will they gave themselves to us as well.

But when trouble came, they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel. They searched for him and found him.

There you will look for the LORD your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.

"Now, people of Israel, listen to what the LORD your God demands of you: Worship the LORD and do all that he commands. Love him, serve him with all your heart,

If in that land they truly and sincerely repent and pray to you as they face toward this land which you gave to our ancestors, this city which you have chosen, and this Temple which I have built for you,

Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you.

You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.

I do admit this to you: I worship the God of our ancestors by following that Way which they say is false. But I also believe in everything written in the Law of Moses and the books of the prophets.