2Kings 23:31 - Prayer Tents

23Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.H4428H7971H622H2205H3063H3389 2He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets--all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD.H4428H5927H1004H3068H376H3063H3427H3389H3548H5030H5971H6996H1419H7121H241H1697H5612H1285H4672H1004H3068 3The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD--to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations 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.H4428H5975H5982H3772H1285H6440H3068H3212H310H3068H8104H4687H5715H2708H3820H5315H6965H1697H1285H3789H5612H5971H5975H1285 4The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel.H4428H6680H2518H1419H3548H3548H4932H8104H5592H3318H1964H3068H3627H6213H1168H842H6635H8064H8313H2351H3389H7709H6939H5375H6083H1008 5He did away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem--those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.H7673H3649H4428H3063H5414H6999H1116H5892H3063H4524H3389H6999H1168H8121H3394H4208H6635H8064 6He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.H3318H842H1004H3068H2351H3389H5158H6939H8313H5158H6939H1854H6083H7993H6083H6913H1121H5971 7He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the LORD and where women did weaving for Asherah.H5422H1004H6945H1004H3068H802H707H1004H842 8Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the shrines at the gates--at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which is on the left of the city gate.H935H3548H5892H3063H2930H1116H3548H6999H1387H884H5422H1116H8179H6607H8179H3091H8269H5892H376H8040H8179H5892 9Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.H3548H1116H5927H4196H3068H3389H398H4682H8432H251 10He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.H2930H8612H1516H1121H1121H2011H376H1121H1323H5674H784H4432 11He removed from the entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melech. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.H7673H5483H4428H3063H5414H8121H935H1004H3068H3957H5419H5631H6503H8313H4818H8121H784 12He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the LORD. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.H4196H1406H5944H271H4428H3063H6213H4196H4519H6213H8147H2691H1004H3068H4428H5422H7323H7993H6083H5158H6939 13The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption--the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon.H1116H6440H3389H3225H2022H4889H8010H4428H3478H1129H6253H8251H6722H3645H8251H4124H4445H8441H1121H5983H4428H2930 14Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.H7665H4676H3772H842H4390H4725H6106H120 15Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam 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.H4196H1008H1116H3379H1121H5028H3478H2398H6213H4196H1116H5422H8313H1116H1854H6083H8313H842 16Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.H2977H6437H7200H6913H2022H7971H3947H6106H6913H8313H4196H2930H1697H3068H376H430H7121H7121H1697 17The king asked, "What is that tombstone I see?" The men of the city said, "It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it."H559H6725H1975H7200H582H5892H559H6913H376H430H935H3063H7121H1697H6213H4196H1008 18"Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.H559H3240H376H5128H6106H6106H4422H6106H5030H935H8111 19Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria that had provoked the LORD to anger.H1004H1116H5892H8111H4428H3478H6213H3707H2977H5493H6213H4639H6213H1008 20Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.H2076H3548H1116H4196H8313H120H6106H7725H3389 21The king gave this order to all the people: "Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."H4428H6680H5971H559H6213H6453H3068H430H3789H5612H1285 22Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed.H6213H6453H3117H8199H8199H3478H3117H4428H3478H4428H3063 23But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.H8083H6240H8141H4428H2977H6453H6213H3068H3389 24Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD.H178H3049H8655H1544H8251H7200H776H3063H3389H2977H1197H6965H1697H8451H3789H5612H2518H3548H4672H1004H3068 25Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did--with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.H4428H6440H7725H3068H3824H5315H3966H8451H4872H310H6965 26Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger.H3068H7725H2740H1419H639H639H2734H3063H3708H4519H3707 27So the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.'"H3068H559H5493H3063H6440H5493H3478H3988H5892H3389H977H1004H559H8034 28As for the other events of Josiah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?H3499H1697H2977H6213H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H3063 29While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo.H3117H6549H4428H4714H5927H4428H804H5104H6578H4428H2977H3212H7125H4191H4023H7200 30Josiah's servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.H5650H7392H4191H4023H935H3389H6912H6900H5971H776H3947H3059H1121H2977H4886H4427H1 31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.H3059H6242H7969H8141H1121H4427H4427H7969H2320H3389H517H8034H2537H1323H3414H3841 32He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.H6213H7451H5869H3068H1H6213 33Pharaoh Neco put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.H6549H631H7247H776H2574H4427H3389H5414H776H6066H3967H3603H3701H3603H2091 34Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died.H6549H471H1121H2977H4427H2977H1H5437H8034H3079H3947H3059H3947H935H4714H4191 35Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Neco the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.H3079H5414H3701H2091H6547H6186H776H5414H3701H6310H6547H5065H3701H2091H5971H776H376H6187H5414H6549 36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.H3079H6242H2568H8141H1121H4427H4427H259H6240H8141H3389H517H8034H2080H1323H6305H7316 37And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.H6213H7451H5869H3068H1H6213