2 Kings 23

Josiah’s Major Clean-up & Judah’s Final Slide

1 Then the king sent out word, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered around him.

2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, and all the men of Judah, all the people of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest, went with him. And he read out loud for them all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the Lord’s temple.

3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep His commands, His testimonies, and His rules with all his heart and all his soul, to make good on the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

Josiah’s Reforms

4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank, and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the stars in the sky. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the Kidron Valley and took their ashes to Bethel.

5 He got rid of 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, those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.

6 He brought the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, burned it there, ground it to dust, and scattered its dust over the burial place of the common people.

7 He tore down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the Lord’s temple, where the women used to weave hangings for the Asherah pole.

8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. He tore down the high place of the gates that was at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which was on a person’s left at the city gate.

9 However, the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread among their fellow priests.

10 He defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could make their son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech.

11 He got rid of the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which was in the courtyard. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

12 The altars that the kings of Judah had built on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple, the king tore down. He smashed them up and hauled their dust into the Kidron Valley.

13 The high places that were east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the disgusting idol of the Sidonians, for Chemosh, the disgusting idol of Moab, and for Molech, the disgusting idol of the Ammonites, the king defiled them.

14 He smashed the sacred pillars and chopped down the Asherah poles, and filled their spots with human bones.

15 He even tore down the altar at Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made. He tore down both the altar and the high place, and burned the high place, grinding it to dust. He also burned the Asherah pole.

16 As Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. He sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned them on the altar, defiling it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God had proclaimed, who spoke these things.

17 Then he asked, “What is that monument I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the burial place of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you just did against the altar of Bethel.”

18 He said, “Leave him alone; do not let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones alone with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

19 Josiah also got rid of all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had built to provoke the Lord, and he did to them just like he had done in Bethel.

20 He sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars, and he burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

Passover Celebration

21 The king commanded all the people, saying, “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

22 For 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 or the kings of Judah.

23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s rule, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

24 Also, Josiah got rid of the mediums, the spiritists, the household gods, the idols, and all the disgusting things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he could make good on the words of the Law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the Lord’s temple.

25 There was no king before him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, and no one like him rose after him.

Judah’s Fate Sealed

26 However, the Lord did not turn from His fierce burning anger with which His anger flared up against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked Him.

27 The Lord said, “I am also going to remove Judah from My sight, just like I removed Israel. I am going to throw out this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple, about which I said, ‘My Name will be there.’”

Josiah’s Death & Successors

28 As for the rest of Josiah’s story, all he did, is it not written in the book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah,

29 In his days, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt rolled up against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went out to meet him, but Necho killed him at Megiddo when he saw him.

30 His servants carried his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own burial place. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his pops.

Jehoahaz Rules Judah

31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months. His mama’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

32 He did what was whack in the eyes of the Lord, just like all his ancestors had done.

33 Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so he would not rule in Jerusalem. And he made the land pay a fine of about seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold.

Jehoiakim Rules Judah

34 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his pops Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, and he died there.

35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to come up with the money Pharaoh demanded. He took the silver and gold from the people of the land, from each person according to their assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho.

36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mama’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.

37 He did what was whack in the eyes of the Lord, just like all his ancestors had done.