2 Kings 23

1 Then the king sent, —and there were gathered unto him, all the elders of Judah, and Jerusalem;

Then the king summoned all the elders of Jerusalem and [of the other places in] Judah.

2 and the king went up to the house of Yahweh, 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 he read in their ears, all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the house of Yahweh.

They went together to the temple, along with the priests and the prophets, and many other [HYP] people, from the most important people to the least important people. And while they listened, the king read to them all of the laws that Moses had written. He read from the scroll that had been found in the temple.

3 And the king took his stand by the pillar, and solemnised a covenant before Yahweh—to follow Yahweh, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all [their] heart and with all [their] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant, written in this book. And all the people took their stand in the covenant.

Then the king stood next to the pillar [where the kings stood when they made important announcements], and while Yahweh was listening, he repeated his promise to sincerely obey [DOU] all of Yahweh’s commands and regulations [DOU]. He also promised to (fulfill the conditions of/do what was written in) the agreement he made with Yahweh. And all the people also promised to obey the agreement.

4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the entrance-hall, to bring forth, out of the temple of Yahweh, all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the Sacred Stem, and for all the army of the heavens, —and he burned them up outside Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel;

Then the king commanded Hilkiah the Supreme Priest and all the other priests who assisted him and the men who guarded the entrance to the temple to bring out from the temple all the items that people had been using to worship Baal, the goddess Asherah, and the stars. [After they carried them out, ] they burned all those things outside the city near the Kidron Valley. Then they took all the ashes to Bethel, [because that city was already considered to be desecrated/unholy].

5 and he put down the idol-priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed, so that incense might be burned in the high places, in the cities of Judah, and round about Jerusalem, —them also that burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations, and to all the army of the heavens;

There were many pagan priests that the previous kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the altars on the tops of hills in Judah. They had been offering sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. The king stopped them from doing those things.

6 and he brought forth the Sacred Stem out of the house of Yahweh, outside Jerusalem, into the Kidron ravine, and burned it in the Kidron ravine, and crushed it to powder, —and cast the powder upon the graves of the sons of the people;

He [commanded that] the statue of the goddess Asherah [be] taken out of the temple. Then they took it outside Jerusalem, down to the Kidron Brook, and burned it. Then they pounded the ashes to powder and scattered that over the graves in the public cemetery.

7 and he brake down the houses of the male devotees, which were in the house of Yahweh, —where the women did weave houses to the Sacred Stem;

He also destroyed the rooms in the temple where the temple male prostitutes lived. That was where women wove robes that were used to worship the goddess Asherah.

8 and be brought in all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where, the priests, had burned incense, from Geba unto Beer-sheba, —and brake down the high places of the gates, that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on one’s left hand, in the gate of the city;

Josiah also brought [to Jerusalem] all the priests who were offering sacrifices in the other cities in Judah. He also desecrated the places on the tops of hills where the priests had burned incense [to honor idols], from Geba [in the north] to Beersheba [in the south]. Those priests were not allowed to offer sacrifices in the temple, but they [were allowed to] eat the unleavened bread that the priests [who worked in the temple] ate. He also [commanded that] the altars that were dedicated to the goat demons near the gate built by Joshua, the mayor of Jerusalem, [be] destroyed. Those altars were at the left of the main gate into the city.

9 howbeit, the priests of the high places came not up unto the altar of Yahweh, in Jerusalem, save only that they did eat unleavened bread in the midst of their brethren;

10 and he defiled Topheth, which was in the valley of the son of Hinnom, —so that no man might cause his son or his daughter to pass through the fire unto Molech;

Josiah also desecrated the place named Topheth, in the Hinnom Valley, in order that no one could offer his son or daughter there to be completely burned for a sacrifice to [the god] Molech.

11 and he did away with the horses, which the kings of Judah had devoted to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, near the chamber of Nathan-melech the courtier, which was in the suburbs, also, the chariots of the sun, burned he with fire;

He also removed the horses that the [previous] kings of Judah had dedicated to worshiping the sun, and he burned the chariots that were used in that worship. Those horses and chariots were kept in the courtyard outside the temple, near the entrance to the temple, and near the room where [one of Josiah’s] officials, whose name was Nathan-Melech, lived.

12 and, the altars which were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, also the altars which Manasseh had made, in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, did the king break down, —and hurried away from thence, and cast out the powder of them into the Kidron ravine;

Josiah also commanded his servants to tear down the altars that the previous kings of Judah had built on the roof of the palace, above the room where King Ahaz had stayed. They also tore down the altars that had been built by King Manasseh in the two courtyards outside the temple. He commanded that they be smashed to pieces and thrown down into the Kidron Valley.

13 and, the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of destruction, which Solomon king of Israel had built unto Ashtoreth—the abomination of the Zidonians, and unto Chemosh—the abomination of the Moabites, and unto Milcom—the disgusting thing of the sons of Ammon, did the king defile;

He also commanded that the altars that King Solomon had built east of Jerusalem, south of Olive Tree Hill, be desecrated. Solomon had built them for the worship of the disgusting idols—the [statue of the goddess] Astarte [worshiped by the people in] Sidon [city], Chemosh the god of the Moab people-group, and Molech the god of the Ammon people-group.

14 and he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Sacred Stems, —and filled their place with human bones:

They also broke into pieces the stone pillars that the Israeli people worshiped, and cut down the [pillars that honored the goddess] Asherah, and they scattered the ground there with human bones [to desecrate it].

15 moreover also, the altar that was in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam son of Nebat made, wherewith he caused, Israel, to sin, —even that altar, and the high place, brake he down, —and burned the high place, crushing it to powder, and burned a Sacred Stem.

Furthermore, he commanded them to tear down the place of worship at Bethel which had been built by King Jeroboam, the king who persuaded the people of Israel to sin. They tore down the altar. Then they broke its stones into pieces and pounded them to become powder. They also burned the statue [of the goddess] Asherah.

16 And, when Josiah turned, and saw the graves which were there, in the mount, he sent and took the bones out of the graves, and burned upon the altar, and defiled it, —according to the word of Yahweh, which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

Then Josiah looked around and saw some tombs there on the hill. He commanded his men to take the bones out of those tombs and burn them on the altar. By doing that, he desecrated the altar. That was what a prophet had predicted many years before when Jeroboam was standing close to that altar at a festival. Then Josiah looked up and saw the tomb of the prophet who had predicted that.

17 Then said he—What is yonder erection, which I do see? And the men of the city said unto him—The grave of the man of God, who came in out of Judah, and proclaimed these things, which thou hast done, concerning the altar of Bethel.

Josiah asked, “Whose tomb is that?” The people of Bethel replied, “It is the tomb of the prophet who came from Judah and predicted that these things that you have just now done to this altar would happen.”

18 And he said—Let him rest, let, no man, disturb his bones. So they let his bones rest, with the bones of the prophet who came in out of Samaria.

Josiah replied, “Allow his tomb to remain as it is. Do not remove the prophet’s bones from the tomb.” So the people did not remove those bones, or the bones of the other prophet, the one who had come from Samaria.

19 Moreover also, all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made, so as to provoke Yahweh to anger, did Josiah remove, —and he did to them according to all the doings which he had done in Bethel;

In every city in Israel, at Josiah’s command, they tore down the shrines that had been built by the previous kings of Israel, which had caused Yahweh to become very angry. He did to all those shrines/altars the same thing that he had done to the altars at Bethel.

20 and he sacrificed all the priests of the high places, who were there, by the altars, and burned human bones thereupon, —and returned to Jerusalem.

He ordered that all the priests who offered sacrifices on the altars on the tops of hills must be killed on those altars. Then he burned human bones on every one of those altars [to desecrate them]. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

21 Then did the king command all the people, saying, Keep ye a passover unto Yahweh, your God, —such as is written in this book of the covenant.

Then the king commanded all the people to celebrate the Passover Festival to honor Yahweh their God, which was written in the law of Moses that they should do [every year].

22 Surely there had not been held such a passover as this, from the days of the Judges who judged Israel, —nor all the days of the kings of Israel, and the kings of Judah;

During all the years that leaders ruled Israel and during all the years that kings had ruled Israel and Judah, they had not celebrated that festival.

23 save only, in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, when this passover was held unto Yahweh, in Jerusalem.

But now, after Josiah had been ruling for almost 18 years, to [honor] Yahweh they celebrated the Passover Festival in Jerusalem.

24 Moreover also, them who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the household gods, and the manufactured gods, and the abominations which were to be seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, did Josiah consume, —that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of Yahweh.

Furthermore, Josiah got rid of all the people in Jerusalem and other places in Judah who practiced sorcery and those who requested the spirits of dead people [to tell them what they should do]. He also removed from Jerusalem and from the other places in Judah all the household idols and all the other idols and abominable things. He did those things in order to obey what had been written in the scroll that Hilkiah had found in the temple.

25 And, like him, was no king, before him, who turned unto Yahweh with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, —neither, after him, arose one, like him.

Josiah was totally devoted to Yahweh. There had never been [in Judah or Israel] a king like him. He obeyed all the laws of Moses. And there has never since then been a king like Josiah.

26 Howbeit, Yahweh turned not away from the glow of his great anger, wherewith his anger glowed against Judah—because of all the provocations wherewith, Manasseh, had provoked him.

But Yahweh had become extremely angry with the people of Judah because of all the things that [King] Manasseh had done to infuriate him, and he continued to be very angry.

27 So Yahweh said: Even Judah, will I remove from my presence, as I have removed Israel, —and will reject this city, which I had chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house as to which I had said, My Name, shall be, there.

He said, “I will do to Judah what I have done to Israel. I will banish the people of Judah, with the result that they will never enter my presence again. And I will reject Jerusalem, the city that I chose [to belong to me], and I will abandon the temple, the place where I said that I [MTY] should be worshiped.”

28 Now, the rest of the story of Josiah, and all that he did, are, they, not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

[If you want to know more about] [RHQ] all the other things that Josiah did, they are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

29 In his days, came up Pharaoh-necoh king of Egypt, against the king of Assyria, unto the river Euphrates, —and, when King Josiah went against him, he slew him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him.

While Josiah was the king of Judah, King Neco of Egypt led his army north to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah tried to stop the army of Egypt at Megiddo [city], but Josiah was killed in a battle there.

30 And his servants conveyed him in a chariot, dead, from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre, —and the people of the land took Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made, him, king, in his father’s stead.

His officials placed his corpse in a chariot and took it back to Jerusalem, where it was buried in his own tomb, a tomb where the other previous kings had not been buried. Then the people of Judah poured [olive] oil on [the head of] Josiah’s son Joahaz, to appoint him to be the new king.

31 Twenty-three years old, was Jehoahaz when he began to reign, and, three months, reigned he in Jerusalem, —and, his mother’s name, was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah, of Libnah.

Joahaz was 23 years old when he became the king [of Judah], but he ruled from Jerusalem for [only] three months. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah [city].

32 And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his, fathers, had done.

Joahaz did many things that Yahweh said were evil, just like many of his ancestors had done.

33 And Pharaoh-necoh put him in bonds at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, —and he laid a fine upon the land, a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

King Neco’s [army came from Egypt and captured him and] tied him up with chains and took him as a prisoner to Riblah [town] in Hamath [district], to prevent him from continuing to rule in Jerusalem. Neco forced the people of Judah to pay to him (7,500 pounds/3,400 kg.) of silver and (75 pounds/34 kg.) of gold.

34 And Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim son of Josiah king, instead of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, —and, Jehoahaz, took he away, so he entered Egypt, and died there.

King Neco appointed another son of Josiah, Eliakim, to be the new king, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Joahaz to Egypt, and later Joahaz died there in Egypt.

35 And, the silver and the gold, did Jehoiakim give unto Pharaoh, howbeit he assessed the land, that he might give the silver at the bidding of Pharaoh, —every man, according to his assessment, exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, that he might give it to Pharaoh-necoh.

King Jehoiakim collected a tax from the people [of Judah]. He collected more from the rich people and less from the poor people. He collected silver and gold from them, in order to pay to the king of Egypt what he commanded them to give.

36 Twenty-five years old, was Jehoiakim when he began to reign, and, eleven years, reigned he in Jerusalem, —and, his mother’s name, was Zebudah daughter of Pedaiah, of Rumah.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah [town].

37 And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, —according to all that, his fathers, had done.

He did many things that Yahweh says are evil, like his ancestors had done.