⁷ He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the Lord, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.

¹⁶ You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?

¹² He banished the male and female shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols^[a] his ancestors had made.

²⁴ There were even male and female shrine prostitutes throughout the land. The people imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.

²⁵ All the women who were skilled in sewing and spinning prepared blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen cloth. ²⁶ All the women who were willing used their skills to spin the goat hair into yarn.

²⁶ That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. ²⁷ And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

¹⁴ He brought me to the north gate of the Lord’s Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz.

³³ So Josiah removed all detestable idols from the entire land of Israel and required everyone to worship the Lord their God. And throughout the rest of his lifetime, they did not turn away from the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

⁴⁶ He banished from the land the rest of the male and female shrine prostitutes, who still continued their practices from the days of his father, Asa.