2 Kings Chapter 23
Josiah Renews the Covenant
1 Then the king gathered the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He and the men of Judah, the residents in Jerusalem, the priests and prophets—people least and greatest—went up to the Temple. He read to them the covenant they’d found. 3 He stood by the pillar and made a covenant with Yahveh to keep his commandments, testimonies, and statutes with all his heart and soul—to carry out the covenant written in that scroll. The people entered into the covenant. 2 Kg 23:1-3
4 Then he told Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers to remove from the Temple the items made for Baal, Asherah, and the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields by the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5 He did away with the idolatrous priests Judah’s kings had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the towns of Judah and around Jerusalem, those who burned incense to Baal, the sun, moon, and constellations—the host of heaven.
6 He removed the Asherah pole from Yahveh’s Temple to the Kidron and burned it. He ground it to powder and threw it on the graves of the common people.
7 He tore down the house of the male cult prostitutes in Yahveh’s Temple, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah pole.
8 Then he brought the priests from the towns in Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense from Geba to Beersheba.
He tore down the high places to the left of the gate of Joshua, governor of the city. 9 The priests of the high places couldn’t serve at Yahveh’s altar in Jerusalem, but they were allowed to eat bread without yeast with the other priests. 2 Kg 23:4-9
10 He defiled Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so nobody could burn a son or daughter as an offering to Molech.
11 He removed the horses Judah’s kings had dedicated to the sun—at the entrance of Yahveh’s Temple, by the quarters of Nathan-melech the official, which were in the precincts.
He burned the chariots of the sun.
12 The king broke down the altars that were on the roof, the upper room of Ahaz, that the kings of Judah had made.
He broke down the altars Manasseh had made in the two courts of Yahveh’s Temple. He pulverized them there and threw their dust in the Kidron.
13 He defiled the high places east of Jerusalem and to the right of the Mount of Corruption that Solomon had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
14 He broke the sacred pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and desecrated their places by spreading human bones in them. 2 Kg 23:10-14
15 In addition, he dismantled the altar at Bethel and the high place JeroboamI had made. He demolished its stones, ground them to lime, and burned the Asherah pole. 16 When he turned around and saw tombs on the hillside, he had bones out of them burned on the altar to defile it like the message from Yahveh that the man of God had delivered. 17 Then he said, “What’s this monument?” The men in the city told him, “It’s the grave of the man of God from Judah that declared what you’ve done against the altar at Bethel.” 18 He told them not to disturb his bones; they didn’t disturb them or the bones of the prophet from Samaria. 2 Kg 23:15-18
19 Josiah removed the shrines from the high places in the towns of Samaria—structures the kings of Israel had built. He did to them what he’d done in Jerusalem. 20 On the altars he killed the priests associated with the high places and burned human bones on them.
Then he went back to Jerusalem.
21 He told the people, “Celebrate Passover to Yahveh your God as written in this scroll.” 22 They hadn’t celebrated it since the time of the judges or during the time of the kings of Israel and Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, they observed it in Jerusalem.
2 Kg 23:19-23
24 Josiah removed the mediums, spiritists, household gods, idols, and detestable things in Judah and Jerusalem, to conform to what the scroll said that Hilkiah found. 25 No king before or after him turned to Yahveh with all his heart, soul, and might, according to the whole Law of Moses.
26 But Yahveh didn’t withdraw his fierce anger against Judah that Manasseh had provoked, 27 “I’ll remove Judah from me like I did Israel. I’ll throw Jerusalem aside, my chosen city, and the Temple that I said I’d identify with.”
28 The rest of the acts of Josiah are recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. 29 During his reign, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up to the king of Assyria to the River Euphrates. King Josiah went to engage him. When Pharaoh saw him, he killed him at Megiddo. 30 His officers hauled his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. The people took his son Jehoahaz and anointed him king. 2 Kg 23:24-30
Jehoahaz Rules in Judah
31 Jehoahaz was 23 and ruled for 3 months in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal Bat-Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 He did evil like his ancestors. 33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in Hamath so he couldn’t reign in Jerusalem. He imposed on the country a fine of 3¾ tons 100 talents of silver and 75½ lbs a talent of gold. 34 He made Eliakim Ben-Josiah king in place of Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, and he died there. 35 Jehoiakim gave Pharaoh the silver and gold, but he taxed the land to do it. He exacted the silver and gold according to his evaluation of their wealth.
Jehoiakim Rules in Judah
36 Jehoiakim was 25 when he became king and ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zebidah Bat-Pedaiah from Rumah. 37 He did evil like his predecessors. 2 Kg 23:31-37