³ For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles,^[a] and the carved and the cast images.^{(A) 4} In his presence they pulled down the altars of the Baals; he demolished the incense altars that stood above them. He broke down the sacred poles^[b] and the carved and the cast images; he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.^{(B) 5} He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.^{(C) 6} In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins^[c] all around,^{(D) 7} he broke down the altars, beat the sacred poles^[d] and the images into powder, and demolished all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.^(E)

² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.^{(A) 3} For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had pulled down and erected altars to the Baals, made sacred poles,^[a] worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.^{(B) 4} He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.”^{(C) 5} He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.^{(D) 6} He made his son pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.^{(E) 7} The carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever;^(F)