2 Kings 23:14-24

14 ¹He broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and ²filled their places with human bones

15 Furthermore, ³the altar that was at Bethel and the ⁴high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he ⁵demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.

16 Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it ⁶according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

17 Then he said, "What is this monument that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "⁷It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel."

18 He said, "Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed ⁸with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

19 Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were ⁹in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made provoking the LORD; and he did to them just * as he had done in Bethel

20 All the priests of the high places who were there ¹⁰he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.

Passover Reinstituted

21 Then the king commanded all the people saying, "¹¹Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God ¹²as it is written in this book of the covenant.

22 ¹³Surely such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah.

23 But in the eighteenth * year of King Josiah, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.

24 Moreover, Josiah removed ¹⁴the mediums and the spiritists and the ¹⁵teraphim and ¹⁶the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, ¹⁷that he might confirm the words of the law which were written ¹⁸in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

Read Chapter Compare

2 Kings 23:14-24 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 23

This chapter treats of Josiah's reading the book of the law, and of him and the people renewing the covenant with God, 2Ki 23:1-3, and of his removing idols and idolatry in every shape, and witchcraft, out of the land, which he did in the sincerity of his heart, 2Ki 23:4-25, yet the wrath of God was still determined upon the land, 2Ki 23:26-28 and Josiah was taken away by an untimely death, 2Ki 23:29,30 and was succeeded by two sons of his, one after another, whose reigns were wicked, 2Ki 23:31-37.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 18

1. Deuteronomy 7:5, 25
2. 2 Kings 23:16
3. 1 Kings 13:1
4. 1 Kings 12:28-33
5. 2 Kings 23:6
6. 1 Kings 13:2
7. 1 Kin 13:1, 30, 31
8. 1 Kings 13:11, 31
9. 2 Chronicles 34:6, 7
10. 2 Kings 10:25; 2 Kings 11:18
11. 2 Chronicles 35:1-17
12. Numbers 9:2-4; Deuteronomy 16:2-8
13. 2 Chronicles 35:18, 19
14. Leviticus 19:31; 2 Kings 21:6
15. Gen 31:19 mg
16. 2 Kings 21:11, 21
17. Deuteronomy 18:10-22
18. 2 Kings 22:8

Footnotes 6

[a]. So the Gr; Heb "burned the high place"
[b]. Lit "let his bones escape with"
[c]. So with ancient versions
[d]. Lit "according to all the acts"
[e]. Lit "consumed"
[f]. Or "perform"