23So the king sent [messengers], and they gathered to him all the elders of Jerusalem and Judah.H4428H7971H622H2205H3063H3389

2Then the king went to the LORD's temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets— all the people from the youngest to the oldest. As they listened, he read all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the LORD's temple.H4428H5927H1004H3068H376H3063H3427H3389H3548H5030H5971H6996H1419H7121H241H1697H5612H1285H4672H1004H3068

3Next, the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant in the presence of the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to the covenant.H4428H5975H5982H3772H1285H6440H3068H3212H310H3068H8104H4687H5715H2708H3820H5315H6965H1697H1285H3789H5612H5971H5975H1285

4Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of the LORD's temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole heavenly host. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.H4428H6680H2518H1419H3548H3548H4932H8104H5592H3318H1964H3068H3627H6213H1168H842H6635H8064H8313H2351H3389H7709H6939H5375H6083H1008

5Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and the whole heavenly host.H7673H3649H4428H3063H5414H6999H1116H5892H3063H4524H3389H6999H1168H8121H3394H4208H6635H8064

6He brought out the Asherah pole from the LORD's temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley, beat it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.H3318H842H1004H3068H2351H3389H5158H6939H8313H5158H6939H1854H6083H7993H6083H6913H1121H5971

7He also tore down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the LORD's temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries for Asherah.H5422H1004H6945H1004H3068H802H707H1004H842

8Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).H935H3548H5892H3063H2930H1116H3548H6999H1387H884H5422H1116H8179H6607H8179H3091H8269H5892H376H8040H8179H5892

9The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.H3548H1116H5927H4196H3068H3389H398H4682H8432H251

10He defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.H2930H8612H1516H1121H1121H2011H376H1121H1323H5674H784H4432

11He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. [They had been] at the entrance of the LORD's temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech the court official, and he burned up the chariots of the sun.H7673H5483H4428H3063H5414H8121H935H1004H3068H3957H5419H5631H6503H8313H4818H8121H784

12The king tore down the altars that were on the roof— Ahaz's upper chamber that the kings of Judah had made— and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the LORD's temple. Then he smashed them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.H4196H1406H5944H271H4428H3063H6213H4196H4519H6213H8147H2691H1004H3068H4428H5422H7323H7993H6083H5158H6939

13The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the detestable idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.H1116H6440H3389H3225H2022H4889H8010H4428H3478H1129H6253H8251H6722H3645H8251H4124H4445H8441H1121H5983H4428H2930

14He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, then filled their places with human bones.H7665H4676H3772H842H4390H4725H6106H120

15He even tore down the altar at Bethel and the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made. Then he burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.H4196H1008H1116H3379H1121H5028H3478H2398H6213H4196H1116H5422H8313H1116H1854H6083H8313H842

16As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mountain. He sent [someone] to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar. He defiled it according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who proclaimed these things.H2977H6437H7200H6913H2022H7971H3947H6106H6913H8313H4196H2930H1697H3068H376H430H7121H7121H1697

17Then he said, "What is this monument I see?" The men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar at Bethel."H559H6725H1975H7200H582H5892H559H6913H376H430H935H3063H7121H1697H6213H4196H1008

18So he said, "Let him rest. Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.H559H3240H376H5128H6106H6106H4422H6106H5030H935H8111

19Josiah also removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [the LORD]. Josiah did the same things to them that he had done at Bethel.H1004H1116H5892H8111H4428H3478H6213H3707H2977H5493H6213H4639H6213H1008

20He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and he burned human bones on the altars. Then he returned to Jerusalem.H2076H3548H1116H4196H8313H120H6106H7725H3389

21The king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover of the LORD your God as written in the book of the covenant."H4428H6680H5971H559H6213H6453H3068H430H3789H5612H1285

22No such Passover had ever been kept from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.H6213H6453H3117H8199H8199H3478H3117H4428H3478H4428H3063

23But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.H8083H6240H8141H4428H2977H6453H6213H3068H3389

24In addition, Josiah removed the mediums, the spiritists, household idols, images, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this in order to carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the LORD's temple.H178H3049H8655H1544H8251H7200H776H3063H3389H2977H1197H6965H1697H8451H3789H5612H2518H3548H4672H1004H3068

25Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his mind and with all his heart and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.H4428H6440H7725H3068H3824H5315H3966H8451H4872H310H6965

26In spite of all that, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath and anger, which burned against Judah because of all the provocations Manasseh had provoked Him with.H3068H7725H2740H1419H639H639H2734H3063H3708H4519H3707

27For the LORD had said, "I will also remove Judah from My sight just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, 'My name will be there.'"H3068H559H5493H3063H6440H5493H3478H3988H5892H3389H977H1004H559H8034

28The rest of the events of Josiah's [reign], along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.H3499H1697H2977H6213H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H3063

29During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to the king of Assyria at the Euphrates river. King Josiah went to confront him, and at Megiddo when Neco saw him he killed him.H3117H6549H4428H4714H5927H4428H804H5104H6578H4428H2977H3212H7125H4191H4023H7200

30From Megiddo his servants carried his dead body in a chariot, brought him into Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the common people took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.H5650H7392H4191H4023H935H3389H6912H6900H5971H776H3947H3059H1121H2977H4886H4427H1

31Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; [she was] from Libnah.H3059H6242H7969H8141H1121H4427H4427H7969H2320H3389H517H8034H2537H1323H3414H3841

32He did what was evil in the LORD's sight just as his ancestors had done.H6213H7451H5869H3068H1H6213

33Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he imposed on the land a fine of 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.H6549H631H7247H776H2574H4427H3389H5414H776H6066H3967H3603H3701H3603H2091

34Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.H6549H471H1121H2977H4427H2977H1H5437H8034H3079H3947H3059H3947H935H4714H4191

35So Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but at Pharaoh's command he taxed the land to give the money. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, each man according to his valuation, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.H3079H5414H3701H2091H6547H6186H776H5414H3701H6310H6547H5065H3701H2091H5971H776H376H6187H5414H6549

36Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king; he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; [she was] from Rumah.H3079H6242H2568H8141H1121H4427H4427H259H6240H8141H3389H517H8034H2080H1323H6305H7316

37He did what was evil in the LORD's sight just as his ancestors had done.H6213H7451H5869H3068H1H6213