2 Kings 23
Josiah’s Covenant
1 aThen the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and bhe read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant cwhich was found in the house of the Lord. 3 dThe king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, eto walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people ▼▼ Lit took a stand in
entered into the covenant. Reforms under Josiah
4Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and gthe priests of the second order and the ▼▼ Lit keepers of the threshold
doorkeepers, ito bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, for ▼▼ I.e. a wooden symbol of a female deity, and so throughout the ch
Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and khe burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5He did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the lhost of heaven. 6He brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and mground it to dust, and nthrew its dust on the graves of the ▼▼ Lit sons of the people
common people. 7He also broke down the houses of the p male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where qthe women were weaving ▼▼ Or tents; lit houses
hangings for the Asherah. 8Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from sGeba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate. 9Nevertheless tthe priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10 uHe also defiled ▼▼ I.e. place of burning
Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, wthat no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for xMolech. 11He did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the ysun, at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 zThe altars which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and aathe altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down; and he ▼▼ Or ran from there
smashed them there and acthrew their dust into the brook Kidron. 13The high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of adthe mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for aeAshtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for afChemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled. 14 agHe broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and ahfilled their places with human bones. 15Furthermore, aithe altar that was at Bethel and the ajhigh place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he ▼▼ So the Gr; Heb burned the high place
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aldemolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah. 16Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it amaccording to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. 17Then he said, “What is this monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, an“It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.” 18He said, “Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones.” So they ▼▼ Lit let his bones escape with
left his bones undisturbed apwith the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 19Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were aqin the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made provoking ▼▼ So with ancient versions
the Lord; and he did to them ▼▼ Lit according to all the acts
just as he had done in Bethel. 20All the priests of the high places who were there athe slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem. Passover Reinstituted
21Then the king commanded all the people saying, au“Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God avas it is written in this book of the covenant.” 22 awSurely such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah. 23But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was observed to the Lord in Jerusalem. 24Moreover, Josiah ▼▼ Lit consumed
removed aythe mediums and the spiritists and the azteraphim and bathe idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, bbthat he might ▼▼ Or perform
confirm the words of the law which were written bdin the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25Before him there was no king belike him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him. 26However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, bfbecause of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, bgas I have removed Israel. And bhI will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the ▼▼ Lit house
temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’” Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah
28Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29 bjIn his days bkPharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at blMegiddo. 30 bmHis servants drove ▼▼ Lit him, dead
his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. boThen the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father. 31 bpJehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was bqHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32He did evil in the sight of the Lord, braccording to all that his fathers had done. 33 bsPharaoh Neco imprisoned him at btRiblah in the land of buHamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Jehoiakim Made King by Pharaoh
34Pharaoh Neco made bvEliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and bwchanged his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away and ▼▼ So with Gr; Heb he came
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bybrought him to Egypt, and he died there. 35So Jehoiakim bzgave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land in order to give the money at the ▼▼ Lit mouth
command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, each according to his valuation, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 cbJehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37He did evil in the sight of the Lord, ccaccording to all that his fathers had done.
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