2 Kings 23:6-16

6 He brought out the Asherah pole^[a] from the Lord's temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley,^[b] beat it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.^[c][d]

7 He also tore down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes^[e] that were in the Lord's temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries^[f] for Asherah.

8 Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).

9 The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.^[g]

10 He defiled Topheth,^[h] which is in the Valley of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.^[i]

11 He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun.^[j] [They had been] at the entrance of the Lord's temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech the court official, and he burned up the chariots of the sun.

12 The king tore down the altars that were on the roof^[k]-Ahaz's upper chamber^[l] that the kings of Judah had made-and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the Lord's temple. Then he smashed them^[m] there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

13 The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the detestable idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.^[n]

14 He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, then filled their places with human bones.

15 He even tore down the altar at Bethel and the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made. Then he burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mountain. He sent [someone] to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar.^[o] He defiled it according to the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God^[p] who proclaimed these things.^[q]

2 Kings 23:6-16 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.

Footnotes

• [a] 2 Kg 18:4; 1 Kg 14:15,23
• [b] 1 Kg 15:13
• [c] Lit the sons of the people
• [d] 2 Ch 34:4
• [e] Dt 23:17; 1 Kg 14:24; 15:12
• [f] Or clothing
• [g] Ezk 44:10-14
• [h] Jr 7:31-32
• [i] Lv 18:21; 20:2-5; 1 Kg 11:7; Jr 32:35
• [j] Dt 4:19; Ezk 8:16
• [k] Jr 19:13; Zph 1:4-5
• [l] 2 Kg 20:11
• [m] Text emended; MT reads he ran from
• [n] 1 Kg 11:1-8
• [o] 2 Ch 34:5
• [p] LXX adds when Jeroboam stood by the altar of the feast. And he turned and raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of God
• [q] 1 Kg 13:2