2 Kings 23:4–8

⁴The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers^o to remove^p from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. ⁵He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense^q to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.^{r 6}He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley^s outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder^t and scattered the dust over the graves^u of the common people.^{v 7}He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes^w that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

⁸Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba^x to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate.