2 Kings 23:4–15

JOSIAH’S REFORMS

⁴Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiah^ad and the priests of the second rank^ae and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord’s sanctuary all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the stars in the sky.^af He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.^{ag 5}Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places^a in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and all the stars in the sky.^{b 6}He brought out the Asherah pole^c from the Lord’s temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley,^d beat it to dust,^e and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.^{Ef 7}He also tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes^g that were in the Lord’s temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries^F for Asherah.^h

⁸Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high placesⁱ from Geba^j to Beer-sheba,^k where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the city gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate). ⁹The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.^l

¹⁰He defiled Topheth,^m which is in Ben Hinnon Valley,ⁿ so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire^Ao to Molech.^{p 11}He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They had been at the entrance of the Lord’s temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech, the eunuch. He also burned the chariots of the sun.^q

¹²The king tore down the altars that the kings of Judah had made on the roof^r of Ahaz’s upper chamber.^s He also tore down the altars that Manasseh had made^t in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. Then he smashed them^B there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley. ¹³The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abhorrent idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.^{u 14}He broke the sacred pillars into pieces,^v cut down the Asherah poles,^w then filled their places with human bones.

¹⁵He even tore down the altar at Bethel^x and the high place^y that had been made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.^z