2 Kings 23:10-20 (New International Version)
View In My Bible
10
He desecrated Topheth,1 which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom,2 so no one could use it to sacrifice his son3 or daughter ina the fire to Molech.
11
He removed from the entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah4 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.5
12
He pulled down6 the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof7 near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts8 of the temple of the LORD. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.9
13
The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption--the ones Solomon10 king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molechb the detestable11 god of the people of Ammon.12
14
Josiah smashed13 the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.14
15
Even the altar15 at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam16 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.
16
Then Josiah17 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 accordance18 with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.
17
The 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."
18
"Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones19." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet20 who had come from Samaria.
19
Just 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.
20
Josiah slaughtered21 all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones22 on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online)
Free Newsletters
To receive email newsletters, updates, and special offers from BibleStudyTools, select your newsletter(s), enter your email address and hit "Subscribe".
Privacy Policy / Terms of Use