2 Kings 23
The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2The king went up to the house of Allah, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Allah. 3The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Allah, to walk after Allah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. 4The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Allah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the sky, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel. 5He removed the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places all around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and to all the host of the sky. 6He brought out the Asherah from the house of Allah, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it there and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people. 7He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of Allah, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 8He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and destroyed the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places at the gates that were at the entrance of the Gate of Yusha the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate. 9Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Allah in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10Josiah desecrated Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. 11He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Allah, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, an officer of the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of 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 Allah. He smashed them to pieces and threw the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 13Then the king desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south side of the Mount of Corruption. Sulayman the king of Israel had built them for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. 14He broke the sacred pillars in pieces, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men. 15Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam Ibn Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah. 16As Josiah turned, he spied 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 desecrated it, according to the word of Allah which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. 17Then he said, What gravestone is this that I see? The men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel. 18The king said, Let him be; let no man move his bones. So they left his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 19Josiah also took away all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Allah to anger, and did to them according to all the deeds that he had done in Bethel. 20He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men's bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem. 21The king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to Allah your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant. 22Surely there was not such a Passover kept since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 23but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah this Passover was kept to Allah in Jerusalem. 24Moreover those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the Taurat which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Allah. 25Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to Allah with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Taurat of Musa; neither after him arose there any like him. 26Notwithstanding, Allah did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27Allah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 28Now 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? 29In his days Firaun Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and Firaun Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him. 30His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz Ibn Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place. 31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal Bint Armiya of Libnah. 32He did that which was evil in the sight of Allah, according to all that his fathers had done. 33Firaun Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 34Firaun Necoh made Eliakim Ibn Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim: but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there. 35Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Firaun; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Firaun: he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments, to give it to Firaun Necoh. 36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zebidah Bint Pedaiah of Rumah. 37He did that which was evil in the sight of Allah, according to all that his fathers had done.