And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

And when he had heard the words of the law, he rent his garments:

And it cometh to pass, at the king's hearing the words of the law, that he rendeth his garments,

And the king, hearing the words of the law, took his robe in his hands, violently parting it as a sign of his grief.

and he had heard the words of the law, he tore his garments.

And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he (k) rent his clothes.
(k) For sorrow that the word of God had been so long suppressed and the people kept in ignorance, considering also the curses contained in it against the transgressors.

AND, CAUSING THE LAW TO BE READ, RENEWS THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND THE PEOPLE. (2-Chronicles 34:19-33)
when the king had heard the words of the law, &c.--(See on 2-Kings 22:11-20; 2-Kings 23:1-3).

The dismay of the king at the contents of the book which was read to him, and his inquiry of the prophetess Huldah as to the judgments threatened in the law. - Compare with this the parallel account in 2-Kings 22:11-20, with the commentary there given, as both accounts agree with the exception of some unimportant variations in expression. Instead of Abdon ben Micah (2-Chronicles 34:20) we find in 2 Kings Achbor ben Micayahu, perhaps the correct reading. In 2-Chronicles 34:21, the expression, "and for those that are left in Israel and Judah," i.e., for the remainder of the people who were left in Israel after the destruction of the kingdom, and in Judah after the divine chastisements inflicted, mainly by the Assyrians under Hezekiah and Manasseh, is clearer and more significant than that in 2-Kings 22:13, "and for the people, and for all Judah." נתּכה, to pour itself forth (of anger), is quite as suitable as נצּתה, inflame, kindle itself, in 2-Kings 22:13. In 2-Chronicles 34:22, those sent with the high priest Hilkiah are briefly designated by the words המּלך ואשׁר, and whom the king, scil. had sent; in 2-Kings 22:14, on the contrary, the individual names are recorded (Ewald, Gramm. 292, b, would supply אמר, after the lxx). The names of the ancestors of the prophetess Huldah also are somewhat different. כּזאת, as the king had said to him, is omitted in 2 Kings. - In 2-Chronicles 34:24, כּל־האלות, all the curses, is more significant than כּל־דּברי, 2-Kings 22:16. ותּתּך (2-Chronicles 34:25) is a statement of the result of the עזבוּני: Because they have forsaken me, my anger pours itself forth. In 2-Chronicles 34:27, the rhetorical expansion of the words which God had spoken of Jerusalem in the law, וגו לשׁמּה להיות, inserted in 2-Kings 22:19 as an elucidation, are omitted. After the preceding designation of these words as "the curses written in the law," any further elucidation was superfluous. On the contents of the saying of the prophetess Huldah, see the commentary on 2-Kings 22:16.

Rent his clothes - Were the things contained in scripture new to us, as they were here to Josiah, surely they would make deeper impressions upon us than they commonly do. But they are not the less weighty, and therefore should not be the less regarded, because they are well known.