And the king stood (A)by the pillar and (B)made a covenant before the Lord, (C)to walk after 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 joined in the covenant.

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests (D)of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for (E)Baal, for (F)Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. (G)He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations (H)and all the host of the heavens. And he brought out (I)the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, (J)and burned it at the brook Kidron (K)and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves (L)of the common people. And he broke down the houses of (M)the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, (N)where the women wove hangings for (O)the Asherah.

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