2 Kings 23:2-12

2 The king went up to the house of the LORD and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and ¹he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant ²which was found in the house of the LORD.

3 ³The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, ⁴to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

Reforms under Josiah

4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and ⁵the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers, ⁶to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and ⁷he burned them outside * Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel

5 He did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the ⁸host of heaven.

6 He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD outside * Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ⁹ground it to dust, and ¹⁰threw its dust on the graves of the common people.

7 He also broke down the houses of the ¹¹male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the LORD, where * ¹²the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.

8 Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where * the priests had burned incense, from ¹³Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the city gate.

9 Nevertheless ¹⁴the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

10 ¹⁵He also defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, ¹⁶that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for ¹⁷Molech.

11 He did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the ¹⁸sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

12 ¹⁹The altars which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and ²⁰the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king broke down; and he smashed them there and ²¹threw their dust into the brook Kidron.

2 Kings 23:2-12 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.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 31:10-13
• 2. 2 Kings 22:8
• 3. 2 Kings 11:14, 17
• 4. Deuteronomy 13:4
• 5. 2 Kings 25:18; Jeremiah 52:24
• 6. 2 Kings 21:3, 7; 2 Chronicles 33:3
• 7. 2 Kings 23:15
• 8. 2 Kings 21:3
• 9. 2 Kings 23:15
• 10. 2 Chronicles 34:4
• 11. 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12
• 12. Exodus 35:25, 26; Ezekiel 16:16
• 13. Joshua 21:17; 1 Kings 15:22
• 14. Ezekiel 44:10-14
• 15. Isaiah 30:33; Jeremiah 7:31, 32; Jeremiah 19:4-6
• 16. Leviticus 18:21
• 17. 1 Kings 11:7
• 18. Deuteronomy 4:19; Job 31:26; Ezekiel 8:16
• 19. Jeremiah 19:13; Zephaniah 1:5
• 20. 2 Kings 21:5; 2 Chronicles 33:5
• 21. 2 Kings 23:4, 6

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "took a stand in"
• [b] Lit "keepers of the threshold"
• [c] I.e. a wooden symbol of a female deity, and so throughout the ch
• [d] Lit "sons of the people"
• [e] Or "tents;" lit "houses"
• [f] I.e. place of burning
• [g] Or "ran from there"