^22:1Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem.¹ His mother² was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath. ^22:2He did what the Lord approved³ and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps;⁴ he did not deviate to the right or the left.

^22:3In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders:⁵^22:4“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down⁶ the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door. ^22:5Have them hand it over to the construction foremen⁷ assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn should pay the temple workers to repair it,⁸^22:6including craftsmen, builders, and masons, and should buy wood and chiseled stone for the repair work.⁹^22:7Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.”¹⁰

^22:8Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. ^22:9Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported,¹¹ “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple¹² and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.” ^22:10Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king. ^22:11When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes. ^22:12The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, ^22:13“Go, seek an oracle from¹³ the Lord for me and the people—for all Judah. Find out about¹⁴ the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us,¹⁵ because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.”¹⁶

^22:14So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe.¹⁷ (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh¹⁸ district.) They stated their business,¹⁹^22:15and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me: ^22:16“This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read.²⁰^22:17This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices²¹ to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made.²² My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’ ” ^22:18Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the Lord: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says concerning the words you have heard: ^22:19‘You displayed a sensitive spirit²³ and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people.²⁴ You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord. ^22:20‘Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace.²⁵ You will not have to witness²⁶ all the disaster I will bring on this place.’ ” ’ ” Then they reported back to the king.

The King Institutes Religious Reform

^23:1The king summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem.¹^23:2The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud² all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple. ^23:3The king stood by the pillar and renewed³ the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow⁴ the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being,⁵ by carrying out the terms⁶ of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant.⁷

^23:4The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests,⁸ and the guards⁹ to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of¹⁰ Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky.¹¹ The king¹² burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces¹³ of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.¹⁴^23:5He eliminated¹⁵ the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices¹⁶ on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices¹⁷ to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.) ^23:6He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it.¹⁸ He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard.¹⁹^23:7He tore down the quarters²⁰ of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines²¹ for Asherah.

^23:8He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined²² the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba.²³ He tore down the high place of the goat idols²⁴ situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate. ^23:9(Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.)²⁵^23:10The king²⁶ ruined Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that no one could pass his son or his daughter through the fire to Molech.²⁷^23:11He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses²⁸ that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.)²⁹ He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god.³⁰^23:12The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up³¹ and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley. ^23:13The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction,³² that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom. ^23:14He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah pole, and filled those shrines³³ with human bones.

^23:15He also tore down the altar in Bethel³⁴ at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin.³⁵ He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole.³⁶^23:16When Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs there on the hill. So he ordered the bones from the tombs to be brought;³⁷ he burned them on the altar and defiled it. This fulfilled the Lord’s announcement made by the prophet while Jeroboam stood by the altar during a festival. King Josiah³⁸ turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this.³⁹^23:17He asked, “What is this grave marker I see?” The men from the city replied, “It’s the grave of the prophet⁴⁰ who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.” ^23:18The king⁴¹ said, “Leave it alone! No one must touch his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, as well as the bones of the Israelite prophet buried beside him.⁴²

^23:19Josiah also removed all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had made them and angered the Lord.⁴³ He did to them what he had done to the high place in Bethel.⁴⁴^23:20He sacrificed all the priests of the high places on the altars located there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

^23:21The king ordered all the people, “Observe the Passover of the Lord your God, as prescribed in this scroll of the covenant.” ^23:22He issued this edict because⁴⁵ a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah.⁴⁶^23:23But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, such a Passover of the Lord was observed in Jerusalem.

^23:24Josiah also got rid of⁴⁷ the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits,⁴⁸ the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images,⁴⁹ and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law⁵⁰ recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple. ^23:25No king before or after repented before the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, soul, and being in accordance with the whole law of Moses.⁵¹

^23:26Yet the Lord’s great anger against Judah did not subside; he was still infuriated by all the things Manasseh had done.⁵²^23:27The Lord announced, “I will also spurn Judah,⁵³ just as I spurned Israel. I will reject this city that I chose—both Jerusalem and the temple, about which I said, “I will live there.”⁵⁴

^23:28The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign and all his accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.⁵⁵^23:29During Josiah’s reign Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt marched toward⁵⁶ the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to fight him, but Necho⁵⁷ killed him at Megiddo⁵⁸ when he saw him. ^23:30His servants transported his dead body⁵⁹ from Megiddo in a chariot and brought it to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, poured olive oil on his head,⁶⁰ and made him king in his father’s place.

Jehoahaz’s Reign over Judah

^23:31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.⁶¹ His mother⁶² was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. ^23:32He did evil in the sight of⁶³ the Lord as his…

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Footnotes

1 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
2 Heb “the name of his mother.”
3 Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”
4 Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”
5 Heb “with these orders, saying.”
6 The has וְיַתֵּם (véyattem), “and let them add up” (Hiphil of תָּמָם [tammam], “be complete”), but the appearance of הִתִּיכוּ (hitikhu), “they melted down” (Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh], “pour out”) in v. 9 suggests that the verb form should be emended to וְיַתֵּךְ (véyattekh), “and let him melt down” (a Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh]). For a discussion of this and other options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
7 Heb “doers of the work.”
8 Heb “and let them give it to the doers of the work who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages to the house.”
9 Heb “and to buy wood and chiseled stone to repair the house.”
10 Heb “only the silver that is given into their hand should not be reckoned with them, for in faithfulness they are acting.”
11 Heb “returned the king a word and said.”
12 Heb “that was found in the house.”
13 Or “inquire of.”
14 Heb “concerning.”
15 Heb “for great is the anger of the Lord which has been ignited against us.”
16 Heb “by doing all that is written concerning us.” Perhaps עָלֵינוּ (’alenu), “concerning us,” should be altered to עָלָיו (’alav), “upon it,” in which case one could translate, “by doing all that is written in it.”
17 Heb “the keeper of the clothes.”
18 Or “second.” For a discussion of the possible location of this district, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
19 Heb “and they spoke to her.”
20 Heb “all the words of the scroll which the king of Judah has read.”
21 Or “burned incense.”
22 Heb “angering me with all the work of their hands.” The translation assumes that this refers to idols they have manufactured (note the preceding reference to “other gods,” as well as 19:18). However, it is possible that this is a general reference to their sinful practices, in which case one might translate, “angering me by all the things they do.”
23 Heb “Because your heart was tender.”
24 Heb “how I said concerning this place and its residents to become [an object of] horror and [an example of] a curse.” The final phrase (“horror and a curse”) refers to Judah becoming a prime example of an accursed people. In curse formulations they would be held up as a prime example of divine judgment. For an example of such a curse, see Jer 29:22.
25 Heb “Therefore, look, I am gathering you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your tomb in peace.”
26 Heb “your eyes will not see.”
1 Heb “and the king sent and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him.” For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
2 Heb “read in their ears.”
3 Heb “cut,” that is, “made, agreed to.”
4 Heb “walk after.”
5 Or “soul.”
6 Heb “words.”
7 Heb “stood in the covenant.”
8 Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.
9 Or “doorkeepers.”
10 Heb “for.”
11 Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).
12 Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
14 For location see ; ; ; ; .
15 Perhaps, “destroyed.”
16 Or “burn incense.”
17 Or “burned incense.”
18 Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”
19 Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, , Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.” The phrase “sons of the people” refers here to the common people (see 766 עַם), as opposed to the upper classes who would have private tombs.
20 Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”
21 Heb “houses.” Perhaps tent-shrines made from cloth are in view (see 109 בַּיִת). M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [], ) understand this as referring to clothes made for images of the goddess.
22 Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
23 These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
24 The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashé’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
25 Heb “their brothers.”
26 Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
27 Attempts to identify this deity with a god known from the ancient Near East have not yet yielded a consensus. For brief discussions see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor II Kings (), and מֹלֶךְ. For more extensive studies see George C. Heider, The Cult of Molek, and John Day, Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament.
28 The simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
29 Heb “who/which was in the […?].” The meaning of the Hebrew term פַּרְוָרִים (parvarim), translated here “courtyards,” is uncertain. The relative clause may indicate where the room was located or explain who Nathan Melech was, “the eunuch who was in the courtyards.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), , who translate “the officer of the precincts.”
30 Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”
31 The reads, “he ran from there,” which makes little if any sense in this context. Some prefer to emend the verbal form (Qal of רוּץ [ruts], “run”) to a Hiphil of רוּץ with third plural suffix and translate, “he quickly removed them” (see 930 רוּץ, and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [], ). The suffix could have been lost in by haplography (note the mem [ם] that immediately follows the verb on the form מִשֳׁם, misham, “from there”). Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to emend the verb to a Piel of רָצַץ (ratsats), “crush,” with third plural suffix.
32 This is a derogatory name for the Mount of Olives, involving a wordplay between מָשְׁחָה (mashékhah), “anointing,” and מַשְׁחִית (mashékhit), “destruction.” See מַשְׁחִית and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
33 Heb “their places.”
34 For location see ; ; ; ; .
35 Heb “And also the altar that is in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin, also that altar and the high place he tore down.” The more repetitive Hebrew text is emphatic.
36 Heb “he burned the high place, crushing to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole.” High places per se are never referred to as being burned elsewhere. בָּמָה (bamah) here stands by metonymy for the combustible items located on the high place. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
37 Heb “and he sent and took the bones from the tombs.”
38 Heb “the king”; this has been specified as “King Josiah” in the translation for clarity (cf. , , ).
39 The is much shorter than this. It reads, “according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.” The has a much longer text at this point. It reads: “[which was proclaimed by the man of God] while Jeroboam stood by the altar at a celebration. Then he turned and saw the grave of the man of God [who proclaimed these words].” The extra material attested in the was probably accidentally omitted in the Hebrew tradition when a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the phrase “man of God” (which appears right before the extra material) and the second occurrence of the phrase (which appears at the end of the extra material). This recalls the prophecy recorded in 1 Kgs 13:2.
40 Heb “man of God.”
41 Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
42 Heb “and they left undisturbed his bones, the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.” If the phrase “the bones of the prophet” were appositional to “his bones,” one would expect the sentence to end “from Judah” (see v. 17). Apparently the “prophet” referred to in the second half of the verse is the old prophet from Bethel who buried the man of God from Judah in his own tomb and instructed his sons to bury his bones there as well (1 Kgs 13:30–31). One expects the text to read “from Bethel,” but “Samaria” (which was not even built at the time of the incident recorded in 1 Kgs 13) is probably an anachronistic reference to the northern kingdom in general. See the note at and the discussion in M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
43 Heb “which the kings of Israel had made, angering.” The object has been accidentally omitted in the . It appears in the , , and versions.
44 Heb “and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel.” For location see ; ; ; ; .
45 The Hebrew text has simply “because.” The translation attempts to reflect more clearly the logical connection between the king’s order and the narrator’s observation. Another option is to interpret כִּי (ki) as asseverative and translate, “indeed.”
46 Heb “because there had not been observed [one] like this Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel and all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.”
47 Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See בער.
48 See the note at .
49 See the note at .
50 Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”
51 Heb “and like him there was not a king before him who returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his being according to all the law of Moses, and after him none arose like him.” The description of Josiah’s devotion as involving his whole “heart, soul, and being” echoes the language of Deut 6:5.
52 Heb “Yet the Lord did not turn away from the fury of his great anger, which raged against Judah, on account of all the infuriating things by which Manasseh had made him angry.”
53 Heb “Also Judah I will turn away from my face.”
54 Heb “My name will be there.”
55 Heb “As for the rest of the events of Josiah, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
56 Heb “went up to.” The idiom עַל … עָלָה (’alah … ’al) can sometimes mean “go up against,” but here it refers to Necho’s attempt to aid the Assyrians in their struggle with the Babylonians.
57 Heb “he”; the referent (Necho) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
58 For location see ; ; ; ; .
59 Heb “him, dead.”
60 Or “anointed him.”
61 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
62 Heb “the name of his mother.”
63 Heb “in the eyes of.”