2 Kings 23 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Then the king sent word, and all the of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.
The king went up to and with him went every person from Judah, all the people living in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and everyone from the least to the greatest. He read aloud to them every word of the of the that had been found in
The king stood by the and made a before Yahweh -- to follow Yahweh and to keep his commands, his instructions, and his laws with all his and all his and to carry out the terms of this covenant written in this book. And all the people committed themselves to the
The king ordered the high priest, the second-ranking priests, and the doorkeepers to remove from Yahweh's temple every item made for for and for all the He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the and carried their ashes to
He got rid of the that the kings of Judah had appointed to burn offerings at the in the towns of Judah and the areas around Jerusalem -- those who burned offerings to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the and all the star-gods.
He brought the out of Yahweh's temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, burned it in the Kidron Valley, ground it to dust, and threw the dust onto the of the
He also tore down the quarters of the that were inside Yahweh's temple, where women wove for the Asherah.
He brought in all the priests from the towns of Judah and the for -- everywhere the priests had burned offerings, from to He broke down the at the gates, including the one at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left side as you enter the city gate.
The priests from the shrines were not allowed to serve at Yahweh's altar in Jerusalem, but they could eat alongside their fellow priests.
He also made in the of unfit for worship, so no one could use it to burn their son or daughter as an offering to
He removed the that the kings of Judah had to the -- they were at the entrance to Yahweh's temple, near the room of Nathan-Melek the official, in the side buildings. And he burned the
The king tore down the that the kings of Judah had built on the -- the upper room of Ahaz -- and the had built in the two courtyards of Yahweh's temple. He smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.
The king also made unfit for worship the shrines east of Jerusalem, south of the of which Solomon king of Israel had built for the goddess of the Sidonians, for the god of Moab, and for the god of the Ammonites.
He smashed the cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their sites with
He also tore down the altar at Bethel -- the shrine that of had made, the one who caused Israel to go He tore down that altar and the shrine, crushed the stones to powder, and burned the Asherah pole.
When Josiah turned and saw the tombs there on the hillside, he sent men to take the bones from the tombs and burned them on the altar to make it permanently unfit for worship. This fulfilled the word of Yahweh announced by the of who had predicted exactly this.
Then he asked, "What is that I see?" The people of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted exactly what you have just done to the altar at Bethel."
He said, "Leave it alone. No one is to disturb his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the who had come from
Josiah also removed all the shrine temples throughout the of that the kings of Israel had built, He did to them exactly what he had done at Bethel.
He all the priests of the shrines who were there, right on their own altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
The king commanded all the people, "Celebrate the to Yahweh your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."
No Passover like this one had been celebrated since the days when the led Israel -- not during the entire time of the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah.
It was in the of King Josiah that this Passover was celebrated to Yahweh in Jerusalem.
Josiah also got rid of the the the the idols, and every other disgusting thing that could be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the terms of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in Yahweh's temple.
There had never been a king like Josiah before him -- one who to with all his heart, all his being, and all his in complete alignment with had And no king like him ever came after.
Even so, Yahweh did not turn away from his against Judah, because of all the ways Manasseh had provoked him.
Yahweh said, "I will Judah from my just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city I chose -- Jerusalem -- and the temple where I said, 'My will be there.'"
The rest of what Josiah did -- everything he accomplished -- is written in the of the of
During Josiah's reign, king of Egypt marched north to meet the king of Assyria at the King Josiah went out to confront him, but killed him at the moment he saw him.
His servants carried his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Josiah's son him, and made him king in place of his father.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
He did what was in just like everything his ancestors had done.
Pharaoh Neko imprisoned him at in the land of Hamath so he could not rule in Jerusalem, and imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred of silver and one talent of gold.
Pharaoh Neko made Josiah's son Eliakim king in place of father Josiah, and to He took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, where he died.
Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he had to tax the land to meet Pharaoh's demands. He extracted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from each person according to their to hand it over to Pharaoh Neko.
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah.
He did what was in just like everything his ancestors had done.