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)