2 Kings 23:4–15

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

⁸Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places ^hfrom Geba ⁱto Beer-sheba, ^jwhere the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the 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. ^k

¹⁰He defiled Topheth, ^lwhich is in the Valley of Hinnom, ^mso that no one could make his son or daughter pass through the fire ⁿto Molech. ^o11He 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 court official, and he burned up the chariots of the sun. ^p

¹²The king tore down the altars that were on the roof ^q—Ahaz’s upper chamber ^rthat the kings of Judah had made—and the altars that Manasseh had made ^sin the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. Then he smashed them ^tthere 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 detestable idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. ^u14He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, ^vcut down the Asherah poles, ^wthen filled their places with human bones.

¹⁵He even tore down the altar at Bethel ^xand the high place ^ythat Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made. Then he burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah. ^z