2 Kings 23:4-20

4Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and 1the priests of the second order and the 2doorkeepers, 3to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, for 4Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and 5he 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 6host 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 7ground it to dust, and 8threw its dust on the graves of the 9common people. 7He also broke down the houses of the 10male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where 11the women were weaving 12hangings 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 13Geba 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 14the 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. 1015He also defiled 16Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, 17that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for 18Molech. 11He did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the 19sun, 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. 1220The altars which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and 21the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down; and he 22smashed them there and 23threw their dust into the brook Kidron. 13The high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of 24the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for 25Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for 26Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled. 1427He broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and 28filled their places with human bones.

15Furthermore, 29the altar that was at Bethel and the 30high 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 3132demolished 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 33according 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, “34It 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 35left his bones undisturbed 36with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 19Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were 37in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made provoking 38the Lord; and he did to them 39just as he had done in Bethel. 20All the priests of the high places who were there 40he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.