2 Kings 23

Josiah Reads the Covenant Book to the People

1Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2The king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the men of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, from small to great. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. 3The king stood by the pillar and made the covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and keep his commandments, testimonies, and statutes with all his heart and with all his life, to establish the words of this covenant written in this book. And all the people stood in the covenant.

Josiah Removes Idolatry from the Temple

4The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second rank, and the keepers of the threshold to bring out from the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5He removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, people who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. 6He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem to the Wadi Kidron, burned it at the Wadi Kidron, ground it to dust, and threw its dust upon the graves of the common people. 7He tore down the houses of the cult prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women were weaving coverings for Asherah.

Josiah Defiles the High Places

8He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba as far as Beersheba. He tore down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate. 9Yet the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10He defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech. 11He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the court official, which was in the precincts, and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12The altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king tore down and crushed there and threw their dust into the Wadi Kidron.

Josiah Destroys Solomon’s High Places

13The high places that were before Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth detestable thing of the Sidonians, for Chemosh detestable thing of Moab, and for Milcom abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled. 14He shattered the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with human bones.

Josiah Destroys the Altar at Bethel

15Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat had made, by which he caused Israel to sin—that altar and high place he tore down. He burned the high place, ground it to dust, and burned the Asherah. 16Josiah turned and saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. He sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned them upon the altar and defiled it according to the word of the LORD that the man of God had proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. 17He said, “What is this monument that I see?” The men of the city said to him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.” 18He said, “Let him rest. Let no one move his bones.” So they left his bones with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

Josiah Removes the High Places of Samaria

19Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, and he did to them according to all the acts he had done in Bethel. 20He slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there upon the altars and burned human bones upon them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Keeps the Passover

21The king commanded all the people, saying, “Make a Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this book of the covenant.” 22Surely no Passover like this had been made from the days of the judges who judged Israel or in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was made to the LORD in Jerusalem.

Josiah Removes Mediums and Idols

24Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums, spiritists, household gods, idols, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, in order to establish the words of the instruction written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. 25Before him there was no king like him who returned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his life, and with all his might, according to all the instruction of Moses, and after him none arose like him.

Yet the LORD Does Not Turn from His Anger

26Even so, the LORD did not turn from the great burning of his anger with which his anger burned against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27The LORD said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence, as I removed Israel, and I will reject this city Jerusalem that I chose and the house of which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”

Josiah Dies at Megiddo

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? 29In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco put him to death at Megiddo when he saw him. 30His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz Reigns for Three Months

31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. 32He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his ancestors had done. 33Pharaoh Neco bound him at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he would not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed upon the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz, and he came to Egypt and died there.

Jehoiakim Becomes Egypt’s Vassal

35Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he assessed the land to give the silver according to Pharaoh’s command. He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from each according to his assessment, to give to Pharaoh Neco. 36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. 37He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his ancestors had done.