³ In the eighth year of his rule, while he was just a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began purifying Judah and Jerusalem of the shrines, the sacred poles,^[a] idols, and images. ⁴ Under his supervision, the altars for the Baals were torn down, and the incense altars that were above them were smashed. He broke up the sacred poles, idols, and images, grinding them to dust and scattering them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, purifying Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, all the way up to Naphtali, he removed their temples,^{[b] 7} tore down the altars and sacred poles, ground the idols to dust, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then Josiah returned to Jerusalem.