2 Chronicles 34:6

6 He did the same thing in the cities and the devastated areas of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far north as Naphtali.

2 Chronicles 34:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 34:6

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and
Simeon, even unto Naphtali
Which though they belonged to the ten tribes, yet these being carried captive by the king of Assyria, they that were left became subject to the kings of Judah, (See Gill on 2 Kings 23:19),

with their mattocks round about;
or hammers or mauls, as Kimchi, or pick axes, such sort of instruments as were used in demolishing altars and images: the Targum is,

``in the house of their desolation;''

and so other versions, "in their desolate places" ^F24, which were become such, the inhabitants being carried captive, and few left behind.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (Mhytbrtb) "in desolatis locis suis, [vel] eorum", Montanus, Tigurine version, Rambachius.

2 Chronicles 34:6 In-Context

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.

6 He did the same thing in the cities and the devastated areas of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far north as Naphtali.

7 Throughout the territory of the Northern Kingdom he smashed the altars and the symbols of Asherah, ground the idols to dust, and broke into bits all the incense altars. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

8 In the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had purified the land and the Temple by ending pagan worship, King Josiah sent three men to repair the Temple of the Lord God: Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah, the governor of Jerusalem, and Joah son of Joahaz, a high official.