2 Kings 23

1 And the king sends, and they gather all [the] elderly of Judah and Jerusalem to him,

Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

2 and the king goes up to the house of YHWH, and every man of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from small to great, and he reads in their ears all the words of the Scroll of the Covenant that is found in the house of YHWH.

And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.

3 And the king stands by the pillar, and makes the covenant before YHWH, to walk after YHWH, and to keep His commands, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all the heart, and with all the soul, to establish the words of this covenant that are written on this scroll, and all the people stand in the covenant.

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

4 And the king commands Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out from the temple of YHWH all the vessels that are made for Ba‘al, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens, and he burns them at the outside of Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and has carried their ashes to Beth-El.

Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

5 And he has caused to cease the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah have appointed (and they make incense in high places, in cities of Judah and outskirts of Jerusalem), and those making incense to Ba‘al, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of the heavens.

Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

6 And he brings out the Asherah from the house of YHWH to the outside of Jerusalem, to the Brook of Kidron, and burns it at the Brook of Kidron, and beats it small to dust, and casts its dust on the grave of the sons of the people.

He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.

7 And he breaks down the houses of the whoremongers that [are] in the house of YHWH, where the women are weaving houses for the Asherah.

He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.

8 And he brings in all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiles the high places where the priests have made incense, from Geba to Beer-Sheba, and has broken down the high places of the gates that [are] at the opening of the Gate of Joshua, head of the city, that [is] on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city;

Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, 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, which was to the left of the city gate.

9 only, the priests of the high places do not come up to the altar of YHWH in Jerusalem, but they have eaten unleavened things in the midst of their brothers.

Although the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 And he has defiled Topheth that [is] in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no man causes his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech.

He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.

11 And he causes to cease the horses that the kings of Judah have given to the sun from the entering in of the house of YHWH, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, that [is] in the outskirts; and he has burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

And he removed from the entrance to the house of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the chamber of an official named Nathan-melech. And Josiah burned up the chariots of the sun.

12 And the altars that [are] on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, that the kings of Judah made, and the altars that Manasseh made in the two courts of the house of YHWH, the king has broken down, and removes from there, and has cast their dust into the Brook of Kidron.

He pulled down the altars that the kings of Judah had set up on the roof near the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars that Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. The king pulverized them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

13 And the high places that [are] on the front of Jerusalem, that [are] on the right of the Mount of Corruption, that Solomon king of Israel had built to Ashtoreth, abomination of the Zidonians, and Chemosh, abomination of Moab, and to Milcom, abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king has defiled.

The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

14 And he has broken the standing-pillars in pieces, and cuts down the Asherim, and fills their place with bones of men;

He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.

15 and also the altar that [is] in Beth-El, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat made, by which he made Israel sin, both that altar and the high place he has broken down, and burns the high place—he has beat it small to dust, and has burned the Asherah.

He even pulled down the altar at Bethel, the high place set up by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. Then he burned the high place, ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole.

16 And Josiah turns, and sees the graves that [are] there on the mountain, and sends and takes the bones out of the graves, and burns [them] on the altar, and defiles it, according to the word of YHWH that the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it, according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who had foretold these things.

17 And he says, “What [is] this sign that I see?” And the men of the city say to him, “The grave of the man of God who has come from Judah, and proclaims these things that you have done concerning the altar of Beth-El.”

Then the king asked, “What is this monument I see?” And the men of the city replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

18 And he says, “Leave him alone, let no man touch his bones”; and they let his bones escape with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.

“Let him rest,” said Josiah. “Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, along with those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19 And also all the houses of the high places that [are] in the cities of Samaria, that the kings of Israel made to provoke to anger, Josiah has turned aside, and does to them according to all the deeds that he did in Beth-El.

Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the LORD to anger.

20 And he slays all the priests of the high places who [are] there by the altars, and burns the bones of man on them, and turns back to Jerusalem.

On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

21 And the king commands the whole of the people, saying, “Make a Passover to your God YHWH, as it is written on this scroll of the covenant.”

The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

22 Surely there has not been made like this Passover from the days of the ones judging who judged Israel, even all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah;

No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Israel through all the days of the kings of Israel and Judah.

23 but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover has been made to YHWH in Jerusalem.

But in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.

24 And also, those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, Josiah has put away, in order to establish the words of the Law that are written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest has found in the house of YHWH.

Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.

25 And like him there has not been before him a king who turned back to YHWH with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, and after him there has none risen like him.

Neither before nor after Josiah was there any king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses.

26 Only, YHWH has not turned back from the fierceness of His great anger with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh provoked him,

Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the fury of His burning anger, which was kindled against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke Him to anger.

27 and YHWH says, “I also turn Judah aside from my presence, as I turned Israel aside, and I have rejected this city that I have chosen—Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My Name is there.”

For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”

28 And the rest of the matters of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

As for the rest of the acts of Josiah, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

29 In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt has come up against the king of Asshur, by the Euphrates River, and King Josiah goes out to meet him, and [Pharaoh Necho] puts him to death in Megiddo when he sees him.

At the end of Josiah’s reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went out to confront him, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo.

30 And his servants cause him to ride dying from Megiddo, and bring him to Jerusalem, and bury him in his own grave, and the people of the land take Jehoahaz son of Josiah, and anoint him, and cause him to reign instead of his father.

From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

31 Jehoahaz [is] a son of twenty-three years in his reigning, and he has reigned three months in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah,

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

32 and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that his fathers did,

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.

33 and Pharaoh Necho binds him in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and he puts a fine on the land—one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

34 And Pharaoh Necho causes Eliakim son of Josiah to reign instead of his father Josiah, and turns his name to Jehoiakim, and he has taken Jehoahaz away, and he comes to Egypt, and dies there.

Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, where he died.

35 And Jehoiakim has given the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; only he valued the land to give the silver by the command of Pharaoh; from each, according to his valuation, he exacted the silver and the gold, from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh Necho.

So Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh’s demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth.

36 Jehoiakim [is] a son of twenty-five years in his reigning, and he has reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Zebudah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah,

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.

37 and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that his fathers did.

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.