The One Year Bible for Men - Flipbook - Page 11
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4 Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high
priest and the priests of the second rank and
the Temple g atekeepers 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 idola
trous priests, who had been appointed by the
previous kings of Judah, for they had offered
sacrifices at the pagan shrines throughout Ju
dah 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 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 en
trance 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 Jerusa
lem, 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 B
en-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 re
moved from the entrance of the Lord’s Temple
the horse statues that the former kings of Ju
dah 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 Sol
omon of Israel had built shrines for Ashto
reth, the detestable goddess of the S idonians;
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July 3
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 dese
crated 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 sev
eral 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 prom
ised 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
these things. 17 “What is that monument over
there?” Josiah asked.
And the people of the town told him, “It is
the tomb of the man of God who came from
Judah and predicted the very things that you
have just done to the altar at Bethel!”
18 Josiah replied, “Leave it alone. Don’t dis
turb his bones.” So they did not burn his bones
or those of the old prophet from Samaria.
19 Then Josiah demolished all the buildings at
the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria, just
as he had done at Bethel. They had been built
by the various kings of Israel and had made the
Lord* very angry. 20 He executed the priests of
the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he
burned human bones on the altars to desecrate
them. Finally, he returned to Jerusalem.
21 King Josiah then issued this order to all
the people: “You must celebrate the Passover
to the Lord your God, as required in this Book
of the Covenant.” 22 There had not been a Pass
over celebration like that since the time when
the judges ruled in Israel, nor throughout all
the years of the kings of Israel and Judah.
23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s
reign, this Passover was celebrated to the
Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Josiah also got rid of the mediums and
psychics, the household gods, the idols,* and
every other kind of detestable practice, both
in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Ju
dah. He did this in obedience to the laws writ
ten in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had
found in the Lord’s Temple. 25 Never before
had there been a king like Josiah, who turned
to the Lord with all his heart and soul and
strength, obeying all the laws of M
oses. And
there has never been a king like him since.
5/19/2022 3:46:52 PM
