2 Kings 23
1 and to send: depart [the] king and to gather to(wards) him all old: elder Judah and Jerusalem
Then the king summoned all the elders of Jerusalem and [of the other places in] Judah.
2 and to ascend: rise [the] king house: temple LORD and all man Judah and all to dwell Jerusalem with him and [the] priest and [the] prophet and all [the] people to/for from small and till great: large and to call: read out in/on/with ear: hearing their [obj] all word scroll: book [the] covenant [the] to find in/on/with house: temple LORD
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 to stand: stand [the] king upon [the] pillar and to cut: make(covenant) [obj] [the] covenant to/for face: before LORD to/for to go: walk after LORD and to/for to keep: obey commandment his and [obj] testimony his and [obj] statute his in/on/with all heart and in/on/with all soul to/for to arise: establish [obj] word [the] covenant [the] this [the] to write upon [the] scroll: book [the] this and to stand: stand all [the] people in/on/with 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 and to command [the] king [obj] Hilkiah [the] priest [the] great: large and [obj] priest [the] second and [obj] to keep: guard [the] threshold to/for to come out: send from temple LORD [obj] all [the] article/utensil [the] to make to/for Baal and to/for Asherah and to/for all army [the] heaven and to burn them from outside to/for Jerusalem in/on/with field Kidron and to lift: bear [obj] dust their Bethel 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 to cease [obj] [the] pagan priest which to give: put king Judah and to offer: offer in/on/with high place in/on/with city Judah and surrounds Jerusalem and [obj] [the] to offer: burn to/for Baal to/for sun and to/for moon and to/for constellation and to/for all army [the] heaven
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 to come out: send [obj] [the] Asherah from house: temple LORD from outside to/for Jerusalem to(wards) torrent: river Kidron and to burn [obj] her in/on/with torrent: river Kidron and to crush to/for dust and to throw [obj] dust her upon grave son: child [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 to tear [obj] house: home [the] male cult prostitute which in/on/with house: temple LORD which [the] woman to weave there house: container to/for Asherah
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 to come (in): bring [obj] all [the] priest from city Judah and to defile [obj] [the] high place which to offer: offer there [to] [the] priest from Geba till Beersheba Beersheba and to tear [obj] high place [the] gate which entrance gate Joshua ruler [the] city which upon left man: anyone in/on/with gate [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 surely not to ascend: rise priest [the] high place to(wards) altar LORD in/on/with Jerusalem that if: except if: except to eat unleavened bread in/on/with midst brother: male-sibling their
10 and to defile [obj] [the] Topheth which in/on/with Valley (son: child *Q(K)*) (Topheth of son of) Hinnom to/for lest to/for to pass man: anyone [obj] son: child his and [obj] daughter his in/on/with fire to/for 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 to cease [obj] [the] horse which to give: give king Judah to/for sun from to come (in): towards house: temple LORD to(wards) chamber Nathan-melech Nathan-melech [the] eunuch which in/on/with colonnade and [obj] chariot [the] sun to burn in/on/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 [obj] [the] altar which upon [the] roof upper room Ahaz which to make king Judah and [obj] [the] altar which to make Manasseh in/on/with two court house: temple LORD to tear [the] king and to run: pieces from there and to throw [obj] dust their to(wards) torrent: river Kidron
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 [obj] [the] high place which upon face: before Jerusalem which from right: south to/for mountain: mount [the] destruction which to build Solomon king Israel to/for Ashtoreth abomination Sidonian and to/for Chemosh abomination Moab and to/for Milcom abomination son: descendant/people Ammon to defile [the] king
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 to break [obj] [the] pillar and to cut: cut [obj] [the] Asherah and to fill [obj] place their bone man
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 and also [obj] [the] altar which in/on/with Bethel Bethel [the] high place which to make Jeroboam son: child Nebat which to sin [obj] Israel also [obj] [the] altar [the] he/she/it and [obj] [the] high place to tear and to burn [obj] [the] high place to crush to/for dust and to burn Asherah
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 to turn Josiah and to see: see [obj] [the] grave which there in/on/with mountain: mount and to send: depart and to take: take [obj] [the] bone from [the] grave and to burn upon [the] altar and to defile him like/as word LORD which to call: call out man [the] God which to call: call out [obj] [the] word: thing [the] these
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 and to say what? [the] signpost this which I to see: see and to say to(wards) him human [the] city [the] grave man [the] God which to come (in): come from Judah and to call: call out [obj] [the] word: thing [the] these which to make: do upon [the] altar Bethel 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 to say to rest to/for him man: anyone not to shake bone his and to escape bone his [obj] bone [the] prophet which to come (in): come from 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 and also [obj] all house: home [the] high place which in/on/with city Samaria which to make king Israel to/for to provoke to turn aside: remove Josiah and to make: do to/for them like/as all [the] deed which to make: do in/on/with Bethel 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 to sacrifice [obj] all priest [the] high place which there upon [the] altar and to burn [obj] bone man upon them and to return: return 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 and to command [the] king [obj] all [the] people to/for to say to make: do Passover to/for LORD God your like/as to write upon scroll: book [the] covenant [the] this
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 for not to make: do like/as Passover [the] this from day [the] to judge which to judge [obj] Israel and all day king Israel and king 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 that if: except if: except in/on/with eight ten year to/for king Josiah to make: do [the] Passover [the] this to/for LORD in/on/with Jerusalem
But now, after Josiah had been ruling for almost 18 years, to [honor] Yahweh they celebrated the Passover Festival in Jerusalem.
24 and also [obj] [the] medium and [obj] [the] spiritist and [obj] [the] teraphim and [obj] [the] idol and [obj] all [the] abomination which to see: see in/on/with land: country/planet Judah and in/on/with Jerusalem to burn: purge Josiah because to arise: establish [obj] word [the] instruction [the] to write upon [the] scroll: book which to find Hilkiah [the] priest house: temple LORD
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 not to be to/for face: before his king which to return: return to(wards) LORD in/on/with all heart his and in/on/with all soul his and in/on/with all much his like/as all instruction Moses and after him not to arise: rise 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 surely not to return: return LORD from burning anger face: anger his [the] great: large which to be incensed face: anger his in/on/with Judah upon all [the] vexation which to provoke him Manasseh
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 and to say LORD also [obj] Judah to turn aside: remove from upon face my like/as as which to turn aside: remove [obj] Israel and to reject [obj] [the] city [the] this which to choose [obj] Jerusalem and [obj] [the] house: home which to say to be name my 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 and remainder word: deed Josiah and all which to make: do not they(masc.) to write upon scroll: book Chronicles [the] day to/for king 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/on/with day his to ascend: rise Pharaoh (Neco) (Pharaoh) Neco king Egypt upon king Assyria upon river Euphrates and to go: went [the] king Josiah to/for to encounter: meet him and to die him in/on/with Megiddo like/as to see: see he [obj] 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 to ride him servant/slave his to die from Megiddo and to come (in): bring him Jerusalem and to bury him in/on/with tomb his and to take: take people [the] land: country/planet [obj] Jehoahaz son: child Josiah and to anoint [obj] him and to reign [obj] him underneath: instead father his
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 son: aged twenty and three year Jehoahaz in/on/with to reign he and three month to reign in/on/with Jerusalem and name mother his Hamutal daughter Jeremiah from 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 to make: do [the] bad: evil in/on/with eye: seeing LORD like/as all which to make: do father his
Joahaz did many things that Yahweh said were evil, just like many of his ancestors had done.
33 and to bind him Pharaoh (Neco) (Pharaoh) Neco in/on/with Riblah in/on/with land: country/planet Hamath (from to reign *Q(K)*) in/on/with Jerusalem and to give: put fine upon [the] land: country/planet hundred talent silver: money and talent 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 to reign Pharaoh (Neco) (Pharaoh) Neco [obj] Eliakim son: child Josiah underneath: instead Josiah father his and to turn: changed [obj] name his Jehoiakim and [obj] Jehoahaz to take: take and to come (in): come Egypt and to die 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: money and [the] gold to give: give Jehoiakim to/for Pharaoh surely to value [obj] [the] land: country/planet to/for to give: give [obj] [the] silver: money upon lip: word Pharaoh man: anyone like/as valuation his to oppress [obj] [the] silver: money and [obj] [the] gold [obj] people [the] land: country/planet to/for to give: give to/for Pharaoh (Pharaoh) Neco
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 son: aged twenty and five year Jehoiakim in/on/with to reign he and one ten year to reign in/on/with Jerusalem and name mother his (Zebidah *Q(K)*) daughter Pedaiah from 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 to make: do [the] bad: evil in/on/with eye: seeing LORD like/as all which to make: do father his
He did many things that Yahweh says are evil, like his ancestors had done.
