2 Kings 23
1 Then the king summoned all the elders of Jerusalem and [of the other places in] Judah.
And he sent the king and they gathered to him all [the] elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
2 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.
And he went up the king [the] house of Yahweh and every person of Judah and all [the] inhabitants of Jerusalem with him and the priests and the prophets and all the people from [the] small and unto [the] great and he read aloud in ears their all [the] words of [the] scroll of the covenant which had been found in [the] house of Yahweh.
3 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.
And he stood the king at the pillar and he made the covenant - before Yahweh to walk after Yahweh and to keep commandments his and testimonies his and statutes his with all heart and with all being to establish [the] words of the covenant this which were written on the scroll this and it took its stand all the people in the covenant.
4 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].
And he commanded the king Hilkiah the priest great and [the] priests of the second rank and [the] keepers of the threshold to bring out from [the] temple of Yahweh all the articles which were made for Baal and for Asherah and for all [the] host of the heavens and he burned them from [the] outside of Jerusalem in [the] fields of Kidron and he carried dust their Beth-el.
5 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.
And he removed the pagan priests whom they had appointed [the] kings of Judah and he made smoke at the high places in [the] cities of Judah and [the] surroundings of Jerusalem and the [ones who] made smoke to Baal to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all [the] host of the heavens.
6 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.
And he brought out the Asherah pole from [the] house of Yahweh from [the] outside of Jerusalem to [the] wadi of Kidron and he burned it in [the] wadi of Kidron and he crushed [it] to dust and he threw dust its on [the] burial site of [the] sons of the people.
7 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.
And he broke down [the] houses of the male cult prostitutes which [were] in [the] house of Yahweh where the women [were] weaving there containers for Asherah.
8 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.
And he brought all the priests from [the] cities of Judah and he made unclean the high places where they had made smoke there the priests from Geba to Beer Sheba 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 [was] at [the] left [side] of anyone at [the] gate of the city.
Nevertheless not they went up [the] priests of the high places to [the] altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem that except they ate unleavened bread in among brothers their.
10 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.
And he made unclean Topheth which [was] in [the] valley of (Ben *Q(K)*) Hinnom to not to make pass anyone son his and daughter his in the fire to Molech.
11 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.
And he removed the horses which they had dedicated [the] kings of Judah to the sun from [the] going of [the] house of Yahweh to [the] room of Nathan Melech the court-official which [was] in the Parbar and [the] chariots of the sun he burned with fire.
12 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.
And the altars which [were] on the roof of [the] upper room of Ahaz which they had made - [the] kings of Judah and the altars which he had made Manasseh in [the] two [the] courtyards of [the] house of Yahweh he pulled down the king and he ran from there and he threw dust their into [the] wadi of Kidron.
13 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.
And the high places which - [were] on [the] face of Jerusalem which [were] from [the] south of [the] mountain of destruction which he had built Solomon [the] king of Israel to Astarte - [the] detestable thing of [the] Sidonians and to Chemosh [the] detestable thing of Moab and to Milcom [the] abomination of [the] people of Ammon he made unclean the king.
14 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].
And he broke the sacred pillars and he cut down the Asherah poles and he filled place their bones of humankind.
15 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.
And also the altar which [was] at Beth-el the high place which he had made Jeroboam [the] son of Nebat who he caused to sin Israel also the altar that and the high place he tore down and he burned the high place he crushed [it] to dust and he burned [the] Asherah pole.
16 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.
And he turned Josiah and he saw the graves which [were] there on the mountain and he sent and he took the bones from the graves and he burned [them] on the altar and he made unclean it according to [the] word of Yahweh which he had proclaimed [the] man of God who he proclaimed the words these.
17 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.”
And he said what? [is] the monument this which I [am] seeing and they said to him [the] people of the city the grave of [the] man of God who he came from Judah and he proclaimed the things these which you have done on the altar of Beth-el.
18 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.
And he said leave alone him anyone may not he disturb bones his and they left undisturbed bones his [the] bones of the prophet who he had come from Samaria.
19 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.
And also all [the] houses of the high places which - [were] in [the] cities of Samaria which they had made [the] kings of Israel to provoke anger he removed Josiah and he did to them according to all the deeds which he had done at Beth-el.
20 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.
And he slaughtered all [the] priests of the high places who [were] there on the altars and he burned bones of humankind on them and he returned Jerusalem.
21 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].
And he commanded the king all the people saying observe a passover to Yahweh God your according to [what] is written on [the] scroll of the covenant this.
22 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.
For not it had been observed like the passover this since [the] days of the judges who they judged Israel and all [the] days of [the] kings of Israel and [the] kings of Judah.
23 But now, after Josiah had been ruling for almost 18 years, to [honor] Yahweh they celebrated the Passover Festival in Jerusalem.
That except in eight-teen year of the king Josiah it was observed the passover this to Yahweh in Jerusalem.
24 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.
And also the necromancers and the soothsayers and the teraphim and the idols and all the detestable things which they were seen in [the] land of Judah and in Jerusalem he removed Josiah so as to carry out [the] words of the law which were written on the scroll which he had found Hilkiah the priest [the] house of Yahweh.
25 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.
And like him not he had been before him a king who he turned back to Yahweh with all heart his and with all being his and with all strength his according to all [the] law of Moses and after him not he arose like him.
26 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.
Nevertheless - not he turned back Yahweh from [the] burning of anger his great which it burned anger his on Judah on all the provocations which he had provoked to anger him Manasseh.
27 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.”
And he said Yahweh also Judah I will remove from on face my just as I removed Israel and I will reject the city this which I chose Jerusalem and the house which I said it will be name my there.
28 [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’.
And [the] rest of [the] matters of Josiah and all that he did ¿ not [are] they written on [the] scroll of [the] matters of the days of [the] kings of Judah.
29 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.
In days his he went up Pharaoh Necho [the] king of Egypt on [the] king of Assyria to [the] river of Euphrates and he went the king Josiah to meet him and he killed him at Megiddo when saw he him.
30 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.
And they made ride him servants his dead from Megiddo and they brought him Jerusalem and they buried him in own grave his and it took [the] people of the land Jehoahaz [the] son of Josiah and they anointed him and they made king him in place of father his.
31 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].
[was] a son of Twenty and three year[s] Jehoahaz when became king he and three months he reigned in Jerusalem and [the] name of mother his [was] Hamutal [the] daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
32 Joahaz did many things that Yahweh said were evil, just like many of his ancestors had done.
And he did the evil in [the] eyes of Yahweh according to all that they had done ancestors his.
33 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.
And he confined him Pharaoh Necho at Riblah in [the] land of Hamath (from reigning *Q(K)*) in Jerusalem and he put a fine on the land one hundred talent[s] of silver and a talent of gold.
34 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.
And he made king Pharaoh Necho Eliakim [the] son of Josiah in place of Josiah father his and he changed name his Jehoiakim and Jehoahaz he took and he came Egypt and he died there.
35 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.
And the silver and the gold he gave Jehoiakim to Pharaoh only he taxed the land to give the silver on [the] mouth of Pharaoh each according to valuation his he exacted the silver and the gold [the] people of the land to give [it] to Pharaoh Necho.
36 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].
[was] a son of Twenty and five year[s] Jehoiakim when became king he and one [plus] ten year[s] he reigned in Jerusalem and [the] name of mother his ([was] Zebudah *Q(K)*) [the] daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.
37 He did many things that Yahweh says are evil, like his ancestors had done.
And he did the evil in [the] eyes of Yahweh according to all that they had done ancestors his.
