1
Josiah was eight years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for thirty-one years.
2
He did what was pleasing to the Lord; he followed the example of his ancestor King David, strictly obeying all the laws of God.
3
In the eighth year that Josiah was king, while he was still very young, he began to worship the God of his ancestor King David. Four years later he began to destroy the pagan places of worship, the symbols of the goddess Asherah, and all the other idols.
4
Under his direction the altars where Baal was worshiped were smashed, and the incense altars near them were torn down. They ground to dust the images of Asherah and all the other idols and then scattered the dust on the graves of the people who had sacrificed to them.
5
He burned the bones of the pagan priests on the altars where they had worshiped. By doing all this, he made Judah and Jerusalem ritually clean again.