23 King Josiah told all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to come and meet with him.
2 He went up to the Lord 's temple. [ a ] All the people who lived in Jerusalem and in the rest of Judah went with him. They included the priests, the prophets, young people and old people. Everyone went to the temple. They all listened while the king read to them all the words in the Book of God's Covenant. That was the book that Hilkiah had found in the Lord 's temple.
3 Then the king stood in his place beside the pillar in the temple. He promised the Lord that he would obey the covenant. He agreed to serve the Lord faithfully and to obey his commands, laws and rules. Josiah agreed to obey what was written in the Book of God's Covenant. All the people also promised to obey the covenant.
4 Then the king gave a command to Hilkiah, the leader of the priests, and to the other priests and the temple guards. He told them to bring out from the Lord 's temple everything that people used there to worship false gods. People used those things to worship Baal, Asherah and all the stars in the sky. King Josiah burned those things outside Jerusalem, in the fields of the Kidron Valley. Then he took all the ashes to Bethel. [ b ]
5 He removed the priests who served false gods. The kings of Judah had chosen those priests to make offerings at the altars on the hills. They were on the hills in Judah's cities and all around Jerusalem. These priests offered sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, to the moon and to all the stars in the sky. 6 He also removed the Asherah pole from the Lord 's temple. He took it outside Jerusalem, to the Kidron Valley. He burned it there. He made its ashes into dust. He threw the dust over the graves of ordinary people. [ c ]
7 King Josiah also destroyed the rooms in the Lord 's temple where the male prostitutes lived. Women also made clothes there for the idol of Asherah. 8 He brought from the towns of Judah all the priests who served false gods. He destroyed the altars on the hills where those priests offered sacrifices. He did that everywhere in Judah, from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the altar that was on the left side of one of Jerusalem city's gates. It was called the Gate of Joshua. Joshua was an officer who had authority over the city. 9 The priests who served at those altars did not have authority to serve at the altar in the Lord 's temple in Jerusalem. But they could eat the same flat bread that the other priests ate.
10 King Josiah destroyed the place called Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. [ d ] After that, nobody could burn his son or his daughter there in the fire as a sacrifice to Molech. 11 He removed the images of horses that the kings of Judah had put beside the entrance to the Lord 's temple. He also burned the chariots that were there. The kings had put the horses and chariots there to give honour to the sun god. They were in the temple yard near the room of Nathan Melech, a palace officer. [ e ]
12 King Josiah knocked down the altars that were on the roof of the palace. The kings of Judah had built the altars there, above the high room of King Ahaz. He also knocked down the altars that King Manasseh had built in the two yards of the Lord 's temple. Josiah broke the altars into small pieces. He threw the bits into the Kidron Valley.
13 King Josiah also destroyed the altars that were on the hills east of Jerusalem. Those altars were on the south side of Mount Trouble. [ f ] King Solomon had built them to worship these false gods:
Ashtoreth, a wicked female god that the people in Sidon worshipped.
Chemosh, a wicked god that the people in Moab worshipped.
Molech, the evil god that the people in Ammon worshipped.
14 Josiah broke the stone pillars that people worshipped into small pieces. He cut down the Asherah poles. He covered the ground where they had been with human bones. [ g ]
15 Josiah also destroyed the altar at Bethel. It was an altar for false gods that Nebat's son, King Jeroboam had made. King Jeroboam had caused the people of Israel to do bad things. Josiah completely destroyed that altar. He broke its stones into small pieces so that only dust remained. He also burned the Asherah pole.
16 Then Josiah looked around and he saw graves on the hill. He sent someone to bring the bones from them. He burned them on the altar, so that people could not use it again. The Lord had said that this would happen when King Jeroboam was standing beside the altar. A man of God had spoken God's message to Jeroboam during a festival.
Josiah looked up and he saw the grave of the man of God who had spoken God's message. 17 He asked, ‘Whose grave stone is that?’ The men from Bethel city said to him, ‘It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. You have now done to this altar at Bethel the things that he said would happen.’ 18 King Josiah said, ‘Do not do anything to his grave. Do not remove his bones.’ So they did not do anything with the bones of the man of God. They also left the bones of the old prophet who had come from Samaria. [ h ]
19 King Josiah removed the altars on the hills in all the towns of Samaria. The kings of Israel had built those altars and that had made the Lord angry. Josiah destroyed all of them, in the same way that he destroyed the altar at Bethel. 20 He punished with death all the priests who served false gods at those altars. He killed them on their own altars. He burned human bones on all the altars. After he had done that, he went back to Jerusalem.
21 Then the king commanded all the people, ‘The Book of God's Covenant teaches about the Passover festival. Now you must eat that Passover meal to give honour to the Lord your God.’ 22 Since the time when the judges ruled Israel, the Israelites had not had a Passover festival like that. They had never had it during the time when kings ruled Judah and Israel. 23 But in the 18th year that Josiah ruled Judah as king, the people once again had a Passover festival to give honour to the Lord .
24 Josiah did other things to obey the rules that were written in the Book of God's Law. That was the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the Lord 's temple. Josiah removed the people who spoke to the spirits of dead people and the other magicians. He destroyed the images that people worshipped in their homes. He destroyed all the other idols that people had started to worship in Jerusalem and in all Judah.
25 Josiah turned to the Lord and he served the Lord faithfully with all his strength. He obeyed all the Law of Moses. No other king was like Josiah, either before him or after him.
26 But the Lord continued to be angry with the people of Judah. The wicked things that King Manasseh did had made him very angry. 27 So the Lord said, ‘I will also send Judah away from me, as I sent Israel away. I will refuse to stay in Jerusalem and in my temple. I chose the city to be my home and the place where people would worship me. But now I will leave there. ’
28 The other things that happened while Josiah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Josiah did.
29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, took his army up to the River Euphrates. He went there to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah took his army to fight against Pharaoh Necho. But Necho killed Josiah in a battle at Megiddo. 30 Josiah's servants put his dead body in a chariot. They took it from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried him in his own grave. Then the people of Judah poured olive oil on the head of Josiah's son Jehoahaz. So he became king after his father. [ i ]
31 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah, who came from Libnah. 32 Jehoahaz did things that the Lord said were evil. 33 Pharaoh Necho kept him in a prison at Riblah, so that Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Riblah is in the Hamath region. Necho made Judah pay tax to him. It was 3,400 kilograms of silver and 34 kilograms of gold.
34 Pharaoh Necho made Josiah's son Eliakim become the new king of Judah. Necho changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz away to Egypt. Later, Jehoahaz died in Egypt. 35 King Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho all the silver and gold that he asked for. But King Jehoiakim had to make the people of Judah pay taxes so that he could pay Pharaoh Necho. Each person in Judah had to pay what was right, if they were rich or if they were poor.
36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled for 11 years as king in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah. She was the daughter of Pedaiah, who came from Rumah. 37 Jehoiakim did things that the Lord said were evil, as his ancestors had done.
23 King Josiah told all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to come and meet with him. 2 Then the king went up to the Lord ’s Temple. All the people of Judah and the people who lived in Jerusalem went with him. The priests, the prophets, and all the people—from the least important to the most important—went with him. Then he read the Book of the Agreement . This was the Book of the Law that was found in the Lord’s Temple. Josiah read the book so that all the people could hear it.
3 The king stood by the column and made an agreement with the Lord . He promised to follow the Lord and to obey his commands, the laws, and his rules. He promised to do this with all his heart and soul. He promised to obey the agreement written in this book. All the people stood to show that they promised to follow the agreement.
4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the other priests, and the gatekeepers to bring out of the Lord ’s Temple all the dishes and things that were made to honor Baal, Asherah, and the stars of heaven. Then Josiah burned those things outside Jerusalem in the fields in Kidron Valley. Then they carried the ashes to Bethel.
5 The kings of Judah had chosen some ordinary men to serve as priests. These false priests were burning incense at the high places in every city of Judah and all the towns around Jerusalem. They burned incense to honor Baal, the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky. But Josiah stopped those false priests.
6 Josiah removed the Asherah pole from the Lord ’s Temple. He took the Asherah pole outside the city to the Kidron Valley and burned it there. Then he beat the burned pieces into dust and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. [ a ]
7 Then King Josiah broke down the houses of the male prostitutes who were in the Lord ’s Temple. Women also used these houses and made little tent covers to honor the false goddess Asherah.
8-9 At that time the priests did not bring the sacrifices to Jerusalem and offer them on the Lord ’s altar in the Temple. The priests lived in cities all over Judah. They burned incense and offered sacrifices at the high places in those cities. The high places were everywhere, from Geba to Beersheba. And the priests ate their unleavened bread in those towns with the ordinary people— not at the special place for priests in the Temple in Jerusalem . But King Josiah ruined the high places and brought the priests to Jerusalem. Josiah also destroyed the high places that were on the left side of the city gate, by the Gate of Joshua. (Joshua was the ruler of the city.)
10 Topheth was a place in the Valley of Hinnom’s Son where people killed their children and burned them on an altar to honor the false god Molech. [ b ] Josiah ruined that place so that no one could use it again. 11 In the past the kings of Judah had put some horses and a chariot near the entrance to the Lord ’s Temple. This was near the room of an important official named Nathan Melech. The horses and chariot were to honor the sun god. [ c ] Josiah removed the horses and burned the chariot.
12 In the past the kings of Judah had built altars on the roof of Ahab’s building. King Manasseh had also built altars in the two courtyards of the Lord ’s Temple. Josiah destroyed all the altars and threw the broken pieces into the Kidron Valley.
13 In the past King Solomon built some high places on Destroyer Hill near Jerusalem. The high places were on the south side of that hill. King Solomon built one of these places of worship to honor Ashtoreth, that horrible thing the people of Sidon worship. He also built one to honor Chemosh, that horrible thing the Moabites worship. And King Solomon built one high place to honor Milcom, that horrible thing the Ammonites worship. But King Josiah ruined all these places of worship. 14 He broke all the memorial stones and Asherah poles. Then he scattered dead men’s bones over that place. [ d ]
15 Josiah also broke down the altar and high place at Bethel. Jeroboam son of Nebat had made this altar. Jeroboam caused Israel to sin. [ e ] Josiah broke down both that altar and the high place. He broke the stones of the altar to pieces. Then he beat it into dust and he burned the Asherah pole. 16 Josiah looked around and saw graves on the mountain. He sent men, and they took the bones from the graves. Then he burned the bones on the altar. In this way Josiah ruined the altar. This happened according to the message from the Lord that the man of God announced. [ f ] The man of God announced these things when Jeroboam stood beside the altar at the feast.
Then Josiah looked around and saw the grave of the man of God. [ g ]
17 Josiah said, “What is that monument I see?”
The people of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. This man of God told about the things you have done to the altar at Bethel. He said them a long time ago.”
18 Josiah said, “Leave the man of God alone. Don’t move his bones.” So they left his bones and the bones of the man of God from Samaria.
19 Josiah also destroyed all the temples at the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had built those temples, which had made the Lord very angry. Josiah destroyed them, just as he had destroyed the place of worship at Bethel.
20 Josiah killed all the priests of the high places that were in Samaria. He killed the priests on those altars and burned men’s bones on the altars so that they could never be used again. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
21 Then King Josiah gave a command to all the people. He said, “Celebrate the Passover for the Lord your God. Do this just as it is written in the Book of the Agreement .”
22 The people had not celebrated a Passover like this since the days when the judges ruled Israel. None of the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah ever had such a big celebration for Passover. 23 They celebrated this Passover for the Lord in Jerusalem during Josiah’s 18th year as king.
24 Josiah destroyed the mediums, wizards, the house gods, the idols, and all the horrible things people worshiped in Judah and Jerusalem. He did this to obey the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the Lord ’s Temple.
25 There had never been a king like Josiah before. Josiah turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength. [ h ] No king had followed all the Law of Moses like Josiah. And there has never been another king like Josiah since that time.
26 But the Lord did not stop being angry with the people of Judah. He was still angry with them for everything that Manasseh had done. 27 The Lord said, “I forced the Israelites to leave their land. I will do the same to Judah. I will take Judah out of my sight. I will not accept Jerusalem. Yes, I chose that city. I was talking about Jerusalem when I said, ‘My name will be there.’ But I will destroy the Temple that is in that place.”
28 All the other things that Josiah did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah .
29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, went to fight against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. Josiah went out to meet Neco at Megiddo. Pharaoh saw Josiah and killed him. 30 Josiah’s officers put his body in a chariot and carried him from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried Josiah in his own grave.
Then the common people took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and anointed him. They made Jehoahaz the new king.
31 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. 32 Jehoahaz did what the Lord said was wrong. He did all the same things that his ancestors had done.
33 Pharaoh Neco put Jehoahaz in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Pharaoh Neco forced Judah to pay 7500 pounds [ i ] of silver and 75 pounds [ j ] of gold.
34 Pharaoh Neco made Josiah’s son Eliakim the new king. Eliakim took the place of Josiah his father. Pharaoh Neco changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh Neco took Jehoahaz away to Egypt where he died. 35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh. But Jehoiakim made the common people pay taxes and used that money to give to Pharaoh Neco. So everyone paid their share of silver and gold, and King Jehoiakim gave the money to Pharaoh Neco.
36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. 37 Jehoiakim did what the Lord said was wrong. He did all the same things his ancestors had done.
23 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
2 And the king went up into 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 he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord .
3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord , to walk after the Lord , and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord , without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord , where the women wove hangings for the grove.
8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord , by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord , did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
14 And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
17 Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
18 And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
22 Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord .
25 And like unto him was there no king before him, that 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; neither after him arose there any like him.
26 Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
27 And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
28 Now 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 In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
30 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord , according to all that his fathers had done.
33 And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
34 And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
37 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord , according to all that his fathers had done.
23 ( A ) Then the king sent messengers , and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And the king went up to the house of the Lord and every man of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, the prophets, and all the people, from the small to the great; and ( B ) he read in their [ a ] presence all the words of the Book of the Covenant ( C ) which was found in the house of the Lord . 3 And ( D ) the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord , ( E ) to walk after the Lord , and to keep His commandments, His provisions, 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 [ b ] entered into the covenant.
4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, ( F ) the priests of the second order, and the [ c ] doorkeepers ( G ) to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the utensils that had been made for Baal, for [ d ] Asherah, and for all the heavenly [ e ] lights; and ( H ) he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley , and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 Then he did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, as well as those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the remaining ( I ) heavenly [ f ] lights. 6 He also brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ( J ) ground it to dust, and ( K ) threw its dust on the graves of the [ g ] common people. 7 And he tore down the cubicles of the ( L ) male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord , where ( M ) the women were weaving [ h ] hangings for the Asherah. 8 Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from ( N ) Geba to Beersheba; and he tore down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate. 9 Nevertheless ( O ) the 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 ( P ) He also defiled [ i ] Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ( Q ) so that no one would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for ( R ) Molech. 11 And he did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the ( S ) sun, at the entrance of the house of the Lord , by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was at the [ j ] covered courtyard; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 The king also tore down ( T ) the altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and ( U ) the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord ; and he [ k ] smashed them there and ( V ) threw their dust into the brook Kidron. 13 And the king defiled the high places that were opposite Jerusalem, which were on the right of ( W ) the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for ( X ) Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for ( Y ) Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon. 14 ( Z ) He also smashed to pieces the memorial stones and cut down the [ l ] Asherim, and ( AA ) filled their places with human bones.
15 Furthermore, ( AB ) the altar that was at Bethel and the ( AC ) high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who misled Israel into sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he ( AD ) burned the high place, ground the remains to dust, and burned the Asherah. 16 Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent men and took the bones from the graves, and burned them on the altar and defiled it ( AE ) in accordance with the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, the one who proclaimed these things. 17 Then he said, “What is this gravestone there that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “ ( AF ) 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.” 18 And he said, “Leave him alone; no one is to disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed ( AG ) with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 19 Then Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were ( AH ) in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had constructed, [ m ] provoking the Lord to anger; and he did to them [ n ] just as he had done in Bethel. 20 And ( AI ) he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars, and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.
21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, “ ( AJ ) Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God ( AK ) as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 ( AL ) Truly such a Passover had not been celebrated since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover, Josiah removed ( AM ) the mediums, the spiritists, the [ o ] ( AN ) household idols, ( AO ) the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, ( AP ) so that he might [ p ] fulfill the words of the Law which were written ( AQ ) in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord . 25 Before him there was no king ( AR ) like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might, in conformity to all the Law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.
26 Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, ( AS ) because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27 And the Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, ( AT ) just as I have removed Israel. And ( AU ) I will reject this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the [ q ] temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there!’”
28 Now 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 ( AV ) In his days ( AW ) Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria at the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at ( AX ) Megiddo. 30 ( AY ) His servants carried [ r ] his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. ( AZ ) Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.
31 ( BA ) Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ( BB ) Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 He did evil in the sight of the Lord , ( BC ) in accordance with all that his forefathers had done. 33 And ( BD ) Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at ( BE ) Riblah in the land of ( BF ) Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a fine of [ s ] a hundred talents of silver and [ t ] a talent of gold.
34 Then Pharaoh Neco made ( BG ) Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of his father Josiah, and he ( BH ) changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and [ u ] ( BI ) brought him to Egypt, and he died there. 35 So Jehoiakim ( BJ ) gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he assessed the land in order to give the money at the [ v ] command of Pharaoh. He collected the silver and gold from the people of the land, each according to his assessment, to give to Pharaoh Neco.
36 ( BK ) Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 He did evil in the sight of the Lord , ( BL ) in accordance with all that his forefathers had done.
23 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read ( E ) in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, ( F ) which had been found in the temple of the Lord . 3 The king stood by the pillar ( G ) and renewed the covenant ( H ) in the presence of the Lord —to follow ( I ) the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers ( J ) to remove ( K ) from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense ( L ) to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. ( M ) 6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley ( N ) outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder ( O ) and scattered the dust over the graves ( P ) of the common people. ( Q ) 7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes ( R ) that were in the temple of the Lord , the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.
8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba ( S ) to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve ( T ) at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.
10 He desecrated Topheth, ( U ) which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, ( V ) so no one could use it to sacrifice their son ( W ) or daughter in the fire to Molek. 11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah ( X ) had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court [ a ] near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun. ( Y )
12 He pulled down ( Z ) the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof ( AA ) near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts ( AB ) of the temple of the Lord . He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. ( AC ) 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon ( AD ) king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable ( AE ) god of the people of Ammon. ( AF ) 14 Josiah smashed ( AG ) the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones. ( AH )
15 Even the altar ( AI ) at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam ( AJ ) son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. 16 Then Josiah ( AK ) looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance ( AL ) with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.
17 The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?”
The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”
18 “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones ( AM ) .” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet ( AN ) who had come from Samaria.
19 Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord ’s anger. 20 Josiah slaughtered ( AO ) all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones ( AP ) on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
21 The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover ( AQ ) to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ( AR ) 22 Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem. ( AS )
24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, ( AT ) the household gods, ( AU ) the idols and all the other detestable ( AV ) things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord . 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned ( AW ) to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. ( AX )
26 Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, ( AY ) which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh ( AZ ) had done to arouse his anger. 27 So the Lord said, “I will remove ( BA ) Judah also from my presence ( BB ) as I removed Israel, and I will reject ( BC ) Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’ [ b ] ”
28 As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho ( BD ) king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo. ( BE ) 30 Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot ( BF ) from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.
31 Jehoahaz ( BH ) was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal ( BI ) daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 32 He did evil ( BJ ) in the eyes of the Lord , just as his predecessors had done. 33 Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah ( BK ) in the land of Hamath ( BL ) so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents [ c ] of silver and a talent [ d ] of gold. 34 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim ( BM ) son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died. ( BN ) 35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments. ( BO )
36 Jehoiakim ( BQ ) was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 37 And he did evil ( BR ) in the eyes of the Lord , just as his predecessors had done.
