Josiah Renews the Covenant^(A)(B)(C)(D)

23 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ² He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read^(E) in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant,^(F) which had been found in the temple of the Lord. ³ The king stood by the pillar^(G) and renewed the covenant^(H) in the presence of the Lord—to follow^(I) the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

¹³ The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon^(A) king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable^(B) god of the people of Ammon.^{(C) 14} Josiah smashed^(D) the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.^(E)

¹⁵ Even the altar^(F) at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam^(G) son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also.