2 Kings 23

Josiah’s Covenant

11Then 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 2he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant 3which was found in the house of the Lord. 34The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, 5to 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 6entered into the covenant.

Reforms under Josiah

4Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and 7the priests of the second order and the 8doorkeepers, 9to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, for 10Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and 11he 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 12host 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 13ground it to dust, and 14threw its dust on the graves of the 15common people. 7He also broke down the houses of the 16male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where 17the women were weaving 18hangings 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 19Geba 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 20the 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. 1021He also defiled 22Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, 23that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for 24Molech. 11He did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the 25sun, 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. 1226The altars which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and 27the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down; and he 28smashed them there and 29threw their dust into the brook Kidron. 13The high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of 30the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for 31Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for 32Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled. 1433He broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and 34filled their places with human bones.

15Furthermore, 35the altar that was at Bethel and the 36high 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 3738demolished 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 39according 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, “40It 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 41left his bones undisturbed 42with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 19Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were 43in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made provoking 44the Lord; and he did to them 45just as he had done in Bethel. 20All the priests of the high places who were there 46he 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, “47Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God 48as it is written in this book of the covenant.” 2249Surely 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 50removed 51the mediums and the spiritists and the 52teraphim and 53the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, 54that he might 55confirm the words of the law which were written 56in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25Before him there was no king 57like 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, 58because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, 59as I have removed Israel. And 60I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the 61temple 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? 2962In his days 63Pharaoh 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 64Megiddo. 3065His servants drove 66his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. 67Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

3168Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was 69Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32He did evil in the sight of the Lord, 70according to all that his fathers had done. 3371Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at 72Riblah in the land of 73Hamath, 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 74Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and 75changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away and 7677brought him to Egypt, and he died there. 35So Jehoiakim 78gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land in order to give the money at the 79command 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.

3680Jehoiakim 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, 81according to all that his fathers had done.