2 Kings 23:3

3 The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his mitzvot, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart, and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.

2 Kings 23:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:3

And the king stood by a pillar
As the manner of kings was, ( 2 Kings 11:14 ) and is thought to be the brasen scaffold erected by Solomon, on which he stood at the dedication of the temple, and now Josiah at the reading of the law, ( 2 Chronicles 6:13 ) , it is said to be his place, ( 2 Chronicles 34:31 ) , (See Gill on 2 Kings 11:14)

and made a covenant before the Lord:
agreed and promised in the presence of God, both he and his people:

to walk after the Lord:
the worship of the Lord, as the Targum; closely to attend to that:

and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes:
all the laws of God, moral, civil, and ceremonial:

with all their heart, and all their soul:
cordially and sincerely:

to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book:
lately found, and now read unto them:

and all the people stood to the covenant:
agreed to it, and promised to keep it; so the Targum,

``all the people took upon them the covenant,''

engaged to observe it.

2 Kings 23:3 In-Context

1 The king sent, and they gathered to him all the Zakenim of Yehudah and of Yerushalayim.

2 The king went up to the house of the LORD, and all the men of Yehudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim with him, and the Kohanim, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.

3 The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his mitzvot, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart, and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.

4 The king commanded Hilkiyah the Kohen Gadol, and the Kohanim of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Ba`al, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the sky, and he burned them outside of Yerushalayim in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Beit-El

5 He put down the idolatrous Kohanim, whom the kings of Yehudah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Yehudah, and in the places round about Yerushalayim; those also who burned incense to Ba`al, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the sky.