2 Kings 23:1

Josiah’s Covenantal Reforms

1 So the king sent [word], and all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him.

2 Kings 23:1 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:1

And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the
elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
] Josiah sent messengers throughout the land, and convened all the principal men in it at Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:1 In-Context

1 So the king sent [word], and all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him.

2 Then the king went up [to] the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [were] with him, [including] the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their {hearing} he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh.

3 Then the king stood by the pillar, and he {made} a covenant before Yahweh, to go after Yahweh and to keep his commands and his warnings and his statutes, with all of [his] heart and with his all of his soul, to keep the words of this covenant written on this scroll. Then all of the people {joined} in the covenant.

4 Then the {king} commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the second priests, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all of the objects made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and then he carried their ashes to Bethel

5 He removed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained [to] burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem and who offered incense to, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.