Josiah’s Covenant

23 ^(A)Then the king sent messengers, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ² And the king went up to the house of the Lord and every man of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, the prophets, and all the people, from the small to the great; and ^(B)he read in their ^[a]presence all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^(C)which was found in the house of the Lord. ³ And ^(D)the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, ^(E)to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments, His provisions, and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people ^[b]entered into the covenant.

Reforms under Josiah

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, ^(F)the priests of the second order, and the ^[c]doorkeepers ^(G)to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the utensils that had been made for Baal, for ^[d]Asherah, and for all the heavenly ^[e]lights; and ^(H)he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ Then he did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, as well as those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the remaining ^(I)heavenly ^[f]lights. ⁶ He also brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ^(J)ground it to dust, and ^(K)threw its dust on the graves of the ^[g]common people. ⁷ And he tore down the cubicles of the ^(L)male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where ^(M)the women were weaving ^[h]hangings for the Asherah. ⁸ Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from ^(N)Geba to Beersheba; and he tore down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate. ⁹ Nevertheless ^(O)the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. ^10 (P)He also defiled ^[i]Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(Q)so that no one would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for ^(R)Molech. ¹¹ And he did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the ^(S)sun, at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was at the ^[j]covered courtyard; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² The king also tore down ^(T)the altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and ^(U)the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord; and he ^[k]smashed them there and ^(V)threw their dust into the brook Kidron. ¹³ And the king defiled the high places that were opposite Jerusalem, which were on the right of ^(W)the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for ^(X)Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for ^(Y)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon. ^14 (Z)He also smashed to pieces the memorial stones and cut down the ^[l]Asherim, and ^(AA)filled their places with human bones.

¹⁵ Furthermore, ^(AB)the altar that was at Bethel and the ^(AC)high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who misled Israel into sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he ^(AD)burned the high place, ground the remains to dust, and burned the Asherah. ¹⁶ Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent men and took the bones from the graves, and burned them on the altar and defiled it ^(AE)in accordance with the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, the one who proclaimed these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is this gravestone there that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “^(AF)It is the grave 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, “Leave him alone; no one is to disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed ^(AG)with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. ¹⁹ Then Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were ^(AH)in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had constructed, ^[m]provoking the Lord to anger; and he did to them ^[n]just as he had done in Bethel. ²⁰ And ^(AI)he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars, and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.

Passover Reinstituted

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people, saying, “^(AJ)Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God ^(AK)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ^22 (AL)Truly such a Passover had not been celebrated 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 celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, Josiah removed ^(AM)the mediums, the spiritists, the ^[o](AN)household idols, ^(AO)the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, ^(AP)so that he might ^[p]fulfill the words of the Law which were written ^(AQ)in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ²⁵ Before him there was no king ^(AR)like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might, in conformity to all the Law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

²⁶ Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, ^(AS)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. ²⁷ And the Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, ^(AT)just as I have removed Israel. And ^(AU)I will reject this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the ^[q]temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there!’”