2 Kings 23:3-13

3 The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his mitzvot, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart, and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.
4 The king commanded Hilkiyah the Kohen Gadol, and the Kohanim of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Ba`al, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the sky, and he burned them outside of Yerushalayim in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Beit-El
5 He put down the idolatrous Kohanim, whom the kings of Yehudah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Yehudah, and in the places round about Yerushalayim; those also who burned incense to Ba`al, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the sky.
6 He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside of Yerushalayim, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust of it on the graves of the common people.
7 He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
8 He brought all the Kohanim out of the cities of Yehudah, and defiled the high places where the Kohanim had burned incense, from Geva to Be'er-Sheva; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Yehoshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless the Kohanim of the high places didn't come up to the altar of the LORD in Yerushalayim, but they ate matzah among their brothers.
10 He defiled Tofet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molekh.
11 He took away the horses that the kings of Yehudah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Netan-Melekh the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 The altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Yehudah had made, and the altars which Menashsheh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king break down, and beat [them] down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
13 The high places that were before Yerushalayim, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Shlomo the king of Yisra'el had built for `Ashoret the abomination of the Tzidonim, and for Kemosh the abomination of Mo'av, and for Milkom the abomination of the children of `Ammon, did the king defile.

2 Kings 23:3-13 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.

The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.