JOSIAH’S REFORM

3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David,t and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images,u and the cast images. 4 Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he chopped down the shrines* that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scatteredv them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.w 5 He burned the bones of the priests on their altars.x So he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. 6 He did the same in the citiesy of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and on their surrounding mountain shrines.E 7 He tore down the altars, and he smashed the Asherah poles and the carved images to powder. He chopped down all the shrines throughout the land of Israel and returned to Jerusalem.z