FURTHER ZEAL FOR THE LORD

24 In addition, Josiah eradicated the mediums, the spiritists,aj household idols,ak images, and all the abhorrent thingsal that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this in order to carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the Lord’s temple.am 25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strengthan according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.ao

26 In spite of all that, the Lord did not turn from the fury of his intense burning anger, which burned against Judah because of all the affronts with which Manasseh had angered him.a 27 For the Lord had said, “I will also remove Judah from my presence just as I have removed Israel.b I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, ‘My name will be there.’ ”c