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2 KIN G S 2 3
who sent you, 16 ‘This is what the Lord says:
I am going to bring disaster on this city* and its
people. All the words written in the scroll that
the king of Judah has read will come true. 17 For
my people have abandoned me and offered sacrifices to pagan gods, and I am very angry with
them for everything they have done. My anger
will burn against this place, and it will not be
quenched.’
18 “But go to the king of Judah who sent you
to seek the Lord and tell him: ‘This is what the
Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the
message you have just heard: 19 You were sorry
and humbled yourself before the Lord when
you heard what I said against this city and its
people—that this land would be cursed and become desolate. You tore your clothing in despair
and wept before me in repentance. And I have
indeed heard you, says the Lord. 20 So I will not
send the promised disaster until after you have
died and been buried in peace. You will not see
the disaster I am going to bring on this city.’”
So they took her message back to the king.
Josiah’s Religious Reforms
Then the king summoned all the elders of
Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And the king went
up to the Temple of the Lord with all the people
of Judah and Jerusalem, along with the priests
and the prophets—all the people from the least
to the greatest. There the king read to them the
entire Book of the Covenant that had been found
in the Lord’s Temple. 3 The king took his place of
authority beside the pillar and renewed the covenant in the Lord’s presence. He pledged to obey
the Lord by keeping all his commands, laws,
and decrees with all his heart and soul. In this
way, he confirmed all the terms of the covenant
that were written in the scroll, and all the people
pledged themselves to the covenant.
4 Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high
priest and the priests of the second rank and the
Temple gatekeepers to remove from the Lord’s
Temple all the articles that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the powers of the
heavens. The king had all these things burned
outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron
Valley, and he carried the ashes away to Bethel.
5 He did away with the idolatrous priests, who
had been appointed by the previous kings of Judah, for they had offered sacrifices at the pagan
shrines throughout Judah and even in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They had also offered sacrifices
to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the powers of the heavens.
6 The king removed the Asherah pole from the
Lord’s Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to
the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. Then he
ground the ashes of the pole to dust and threw
the dust over the graves of the people. 7 He also
tore down the living quarters of the male and
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female shrine prostitutes that were inside the
Temple of the Lord, where the women wove
coverings for the Asherah pole.
8 Josiah brought to Jerusalem all the priests
who were living in other towns of Judah. He also
defiled the pagan shrines, where they had offered sacrifices—all the way from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the shrines at the entrance
to the gate of Joshua, the governor of Jerusalem.
This gate was located to the left of the city gate
as one enters the city. 9 The priests who had
served at the pagan shrines were not allowed to
serve at* the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem, but they
were allowed to eat unleavened bread with the
other priests.
10 Then the king defiled the altar of Topheth
in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, so no one could
ever again use it to sacrifice a son or daughter in
the fire* as an offering to Molech. 11 He removed
from the entrance of the Lord’s Temple the
horse statues that the former kings of Judah had
dedicated to the sun. They were near the quarters of Nathan-melech the eunuch, an officer of
the court.* The king also burned the chariots
dedicated to the sun.
12 Josiah tore down the altars that the kings
of Judah had built on the palace roof above
the upper room of Ahaz. The king destroyed
the altars that Manasseh had built in the two
courtyards of the Lord’s Temple. He smashed
them to bits* and scattered the pieces in the
Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the
pagan shrines east of Jerusalem, to the south
of the Mount of Corruption, where King Solomon of Israel had built shrines for Ashtoreth,
the detestable goddess of the Sidonians; and for
Chemosh, the detestable god of the Moabites;
and for Molech,* the vile god of the Ammonites.
14 He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down
the Asherah poles. Then he desecrated these
places by scattering human bones over them.
15 The king also tore down the altar at
Bethel—the pagan shrine that Jeroboam son of
Nebat had made when he caused Israel to sin.
He burned down the shrine and ground it to
dust, and he burned the Asherah pole. 16 Then
Josiah turned around and noticed several tombs
in the side of the hill. He ordered that the bones
be brought out, and he burned them on the
altar at Bethel to desecrate it. (This happened
just as the Lord had promised through the man
of God when Jeroboam stood beside the altar at
the festival.)
Then Josiah turned and looked up at the
tomb of the man of God* who had predicted
22:16 Hebrew this place; also in 22:19, 20. 23:9 Hebrew did not
come up to. 23:10 Or to make a son or daughter pass through the
fire. 23:11 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. 23:12 Or
He quickly removed them. 23:13 Hebrew Milcom, a variant
spelling of Molech. 23:16 As in Greek version; Hebrew lacks
when Jeroboam stood beside the altar at the festival. Then Josiah
turned and looked up at the tomb of the man of God.