2 Kings 23

Josiah Restores True Worship

1 Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him.2 The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalemthe priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord.3 Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.6 And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people.7 Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.8 And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate.9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.11 Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.12 The altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.13 Then the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon.14 And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men.15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image.16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.17 Then he said, What gravestone is this that I see? So the men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.18 And he said, Let him alone; let no one move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.19 Now Josiah also took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel.20 He executed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned mens bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.22 Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem.24 Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.25 Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.

Impending Judgment on Judah

26 Nevertheless the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.27 And the Lord said, I will also remove Judah from My sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

Josiah Dies in Battle

28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?29 In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him.30 Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his fathers place.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoahaz

31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mothers name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.32 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.33 Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.34 Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah

35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give money according to the command of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho.36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mothers name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.37 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

2 KINGS 23

Josiah Reads The Book of God's Law

(2 Chronicles 34.29-33)

1 King Josiah called together the older leaders of Judah and Jerusalem.

2 Then he went to the [Lord]'s temple, together with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. Finally, when everybody was there, he read aloud The Book of God's Lawt that had been found in the temple.

3 After Josiah had finished reading, he stood by one of the columns. He asked the people to promise in the [Lord]'s name to faithfully obey the [Lord] and to follow his commands. The people agreed to do everything written in the book.

Josiah Follows //the Teachings //of God's Law

(2 Chronicles 34.3-7)

4  t Josiah told Hilkiah the priest, the assistant priests, and the guards at the temple door to go into the temple and bring out the things used to worship Baal, Asherah, and the stars. Josiah had these things burned in Kidron Valley just outside Jerusalem, and he had the ashes carried away to the town of Bethel.
5 Josiah also got rid of the pagan priests at the local shrines in Judah and around Jerusalem. These were the men that the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices to Baal and to the sun, moon, and stars. 6 Josiah had the sacred polet for Asherah brought out of the temple and taken to Kidron Valley, where it was burned. He then had its ashes ground into dust and scattered over the public cemetery there.

7 He had the buildings torn down where the male prostitutest lived next to the temple, and where the women wove sacred robest for the idol of Asherah.
8 In almost every town in Judah, priests had been offering sacrifices to the [Lord] at local shrines.t Josiah brought these priests to Jerusalem and had their shrines made unfit for worship—every shrine from Geba just north of Jerusalem to Beersheba in the south. He even tore down the shrine at Beersheba that was just to the left of Joshua Gate, which was named after the highest official of the city.

9 Those local priests could not serve at the [Lord]'s altar in Jerusalem, but they were allowed to eat sacred bread, t just like the priests from Jerusalem.
10  t Josiah sent some men to Hinnom Valley just outside Jerusalem with orders to make the altar there unfit for worship. That way, people could no longer use it for sacrificing their children to the god Molech.

11 He also got rid of the horses that the kings of Judah used in their ceremonies to worship the sun, and he destroyed the chariots along with them. The horses had been kept near the entrance to the [Lord]'s temple, in a courtyardt close to where an official named Nathan-Melech lived.
12  t Some of the kings of Judah, especially Manasseh, had built altars in the two courts of the temple and in the room that Ahaz had built on the palace roof. Josiah had these altars torn down and smashed to pieces, and he had the pieces thrown into Kidron Valley, just outside Jerusalem. 13 t After that, he closed down the shrines that Solomon had built east of Jerusalem and south of Spoil Hill to honor Astarte the disgusting goddess of Sidon, Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Milcom the disgusting god of Ammon.t

14 He tore down the stone images of foreign gods and cut down the sacred pole used in the worship of Asherah. Then he had the whole area covered with human bones.t
15  t But Josiah was not finished yet. At Bethel he destroyed the shrine and the altar that Jeroboam son of Nebat had built and that had caused the Israelites to sin. Josiah had the shrine and the Asherah pole burned and ground into dust.

16 t As he looked around, he saw graves on the hillside. He had the bones in them dug up and burned on the altar, so that it could no longer be used. This happened just as God's prophet had said when Jeroboam was standing at the altar, celebrating a festival.t
Then Josiah saw the grave of the prophet who had said this would happen

17 t and he asked, t “Whose grave is that?”
Some people who lived nearby answered, “It belongs to the prophet from Judah who told what would happen to this altar.”

18 Josiah replied, “Then leave it alone. Don't dig up his bones.” So they did not disturb his bones or the bones of the old prophet from Israel who had also been buried there.t
19 Some of the Israelite kings had made the [Lord] angry by building pagan shrines all over Israel. So Josiah sent troops to destroy these shrines just as he had done to the one in Bethel.

20 He killed the priests who served at them and burned their bones on the altars.
After all that, Josiah went back to Jerusalem.

Josiah and the People of Judah //Celebrate Passover

(2 Chronicles 35.1-19)

21 Josiah told the people of Judah, “Celebrate Passover in honor of the [Lord] your God, just as it says in The Book of God's Law.”t
22 This festival had not been celebrated in this way since the time that tribal leaders ruled Israel or the kings ruled Israel and Judah.

23 But in Josiah's eighteenth year as king of Judah, everyone came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

The [Lord] Is Still Angry //with the People //of Judah

25 No other king before or after Josiah tried as hard as he did to obey the Law of Moses.
26 But the [Lord] was still furious with the people of Judah because Manasseh had done so many things to make him angry.

27 The [Lord] said, “I will desert the people of Judah, just as I deserted the people of Israel. I will reject Jerusalem, even though I chose it to be mine. And I will abandon this temple built to honor me.”

Josiah Dies in Battle

(2 Chronicles 35.20—36.1)

30 A few of Josiah's servants put his body in a chariot and took it back to Jerusalem, where they buried it in his own tomb. Then the people of Judah found his son Jehoahaz and poured olive oil on his head to show that he was their new king.

King Jehoahaz of Judah

(2 Chronicles 36.2-4)

32 Jehoahaz disobeyed the [Lord], just as some of his ancestors had done.
33 King Neco of Egypt had Jehoahaz arrested and put in prison at Riblaht near Hamath. Then he forced the people of Judah to pay him 3.4 tons of silver and 34 kilograms of gold as taxes.

34 t Neco appointed Josiah's son Eliakim king of Judah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz as a prisoner to Egypt, where he died.

35 Jehoiakim forced the people of Judah to pay higher taxes, so he could give Neco the silver and gold he demanded.

King Jehoiakim of Judah

(2 Chronicles 36.5-8)