Josiah removed every abomination from all the territories belonging to the Israelites, and he obliged all who were in Israel to serve the Lord, their God. During his lifetime they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not hurt me. For I have been found innocent before him; neither have I done you any harm, O king!”
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.