2Ki 23 | HCSB | STEP | So the king sent messengers, and they gathered all the elders of Jerusalem and Judah to him.

1 So the king sent messengers, ^a and they gathered all the elders ^b of Jerusalem and Judah to him. 2 Then the king went to the Lord’s temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets – all the people from the youngest to the oldest. As they listened, he read all the words of the book of the covenant ^c that had been found in the Lord’s temple. ^d 3 Next, the king stood by the pillar ^{e
,} ^f and made a covenant ^g in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commands, His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart, ^h and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to ^{▼▼Lit people took a stand in} the covenant. ^j

Josiah’s Reforms

4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah ^k the high priest and the priests of the second rank ^l and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the articles made for ^{▼▼Baal: A fertility god who was the main god of the Canaanite religion and the god of rain and thunderstorms; also the Hebrew word meaning "lord," "master," "owner," or "husband"}Baal, ^{▼▼Asherah(s): A Canaanite fertility goddess, who was the mother of the god Baal; also the wooden poles associated with the worship of her}Asherah, and the whole heavenly ^{▼▼Hosts/hosts: Military forces consisting of God's angels, sometimes including the sun, moon, and stars, and occasionally, Israel}host. ^p He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. ^q 5 Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the ^{▼▼high place(s): An ancient place of worship most often associated with pagan religions, usually built on an elevated location}high places ^s in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and the whole heavenly host. ^t 6 He brought out the Asherah pole ^u from the Lord’s temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley, ^v beat it to dust, ^w and threw its dust on the graves of the common people. ^{▼▼Lit the sons of the people
,} ^y 7 He also tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes ^z that were in the Lord’s temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries ^{▼▼Or clothing} for Asherah. ^ab

8 Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places ^ac from Geba ^ad to Beer-sheba, ^ae where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the ^{▼▼gate(s): The center for community discussions, political meetings, and trying of court cases}gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate). 9 The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests. ^ag

10 He defiled ^{▼▼Topheth: A place of human sacrifice outside Jerusalem in the Hinnom Valley; Jr 7:31-32; see "hell/hellfire"}Topheth, ^ai which is in the Valley of Hinnom, ^aj so that no one could make his son or daughter pass through the fire ^ak to ^{▼▼Molech: A Canaanite god associated with death and the underworld. The worship ritual of passing someone through the fire is connected with him. This ritual could have been either fire-walking or child sacrifice.}Molech. ^am 11 He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They had been at the entrance of the Lord’s temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech the court official, and he burned up the chariots of the sun. ^an

12 The king tore down the altars that were on the roof ^ao – Ahaz’s upper chamber ^ap that the kings of Judah had made – and the altars that Manasseh had made ^aq in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. Then he smashed them ^{▼▼Text emended; MT reads he ran from} there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for ^{▼▼Ashtoreth(s): A Canaanite goddess of fertility, love, and war, who was the daughter of Asherah and consort of Baal; the plural form of her name in Hebrew is Ashtaroth.}Ashtoreth, the detestable idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab; and for ^{▼▼Milcom: An Ammonite god who was the equivalent of Baal, the Canaanite storm god}Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. ^au 14 He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, ^av cut down the Asherah poles, ^aw then filled their places with human bones.

15 He even tore down the altar at Bethel ^ax and the high place ^ay that Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made. Then he burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah. ^az 16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mountain. He sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar. ^ba He defiled it according to the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God ^{▼▼LXX adds when Jeroboam stood by the altar of the feast. And he turned and raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of God} who proclaimed these things. ^bc 17 Then he said, “What is this monument I see?”The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar at Bethel.” ^bd

18 So he said, “Let him rest. Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. ^be

19 Josiah also removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord. ^bf Josiah did the same things to them that he had done at Bethel. 20 He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places ^bg who were there, and he burned human bones on the altars. ^bh Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Passover Observed

21 The king commanded all the people, “Keep the ^{▼▼Passover: The Israelite festival celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month in the early spring. It was a celebration of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, commemorating the final plague on Egypt when the firstborn were killed.}Passover of the Lord your God as written in the book of the covenant.” ^bj 22 No such Passover had ever been kept from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was observed to the Lord in Jerusalem. ^bk

Further Zeal for the Lord

24 In addition, Josiah removed the mediums, the spiritists, ^bl household idols, ^bm images, and all the detestable things ^bn that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this in order to carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the Lord’s temple. ^bo 25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his mind and with all his heart and with all his strength ^bp according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him. ^bq

26 In spite of all that, the Lord did not turn from the fury of His great burning anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had provoked Him with. ^br 27 For the Lord had said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight just as I have removed Israel. ^bs I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, ‘My name will be there.’” ^bt

Josiah’s Death

28 The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign, ^bu along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. 29 During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt ^bv marched up to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to confront him, and at Megiddo ^bw when Neco saw him he killed him. 30 From Megiddo his servants carried his dead body in a chariot, brought him into Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. ^bx Then the common people ^{▼▼Lit the people of the land} took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father. ^bz

Judah’s King Jehoahaz

31 Jehoahaz ^ca was ^cb 23 years old when he became king and reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal ^cc daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 32 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestors had done. ^cd 33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah ^ce in the land of Hamath ^cf to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he imposed on the land a fine of 7,500 pounds ^{▼▼Lit 100 talents} of silver and 75 pounds ^{▼▼Lit one talent} of gold.

Judah’s King Jehoiakim

34 Then ^ci Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim ^cj son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. ^ck But Neco took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there. ^cl 35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but at Pharaoh’s command he taxed the land to give the money. He exacted the silver and the gold from the common people, ^{▼▼Lit the people of the land} each man according to his assessment, ^cn to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah. 37 He did what was evil ^co in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestors had done.