2 Kings 23:3–7

³Next, the king stood by the pillar ^noand made a covenant ^pin the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commands, His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart, ^qand to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to ^rthe covenant. ^s

Josiah’s Reforms

⁴Then the king commanded Hilkiah ^tthe high priest and the priests of the second rank ^uand the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole heavenly host. ^vHe burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. ^w5Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places ^xin the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and the whole heavenly host. ^y6He brought out the Asherah pole ^zfrom the Lord’s temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley, ^abeat it to dust, ^band threw its dust on the graves of the common people. ^cd7He also tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes ^ethat were in the Lord’s temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries ^ffor Asherah. ^g