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2 Kings 23
New Catholic Bible

Chapter 23

Josiah the Reformer. 1 The king then sent and assembled all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all of the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went with him, including the priests, the prophets, and all of the people, both the humble and the important. He read aloud all of the words from the book of the covenant that had been found in the temple of the Lord.

3 The king stood by the pillar, and he made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to observe his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, fulfilling the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All of the people joined in the covenant.

4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doormen to carry out of the temple of the Lord all of the utensils that had been used for Baal, for Asherah, and for the heavenly host. He burned them outside of Jerusalem in a field in the Kidron Valley, and they took their ashes to Bethel.

5 He expelled the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and those that surrounded Jerusalem, those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and to all of the hosts of heaven. 6 He brought the Asherah out of the temple of the Lord, taking it outside of Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley. He smashed it to pieces, tossing its dust upon the graves of the common people.

7 He also tore down the quarters that housed the male prostitutes in the temple of the Lord, and where the women did the weavings for the Asherah. 8 He brought all of the priests from the cities of Judah, and he desecrated all of the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba where the priests had burned incense. He demolished the shrines at the gates, at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the leader of the city, which was to the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord, they did eat the unleavened bread with their brethren.

10 He desecrated Topheth[a] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in fire to Molech. 11 He removed the horses that the king of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the temple of the Lord. They had been in the court near the room of the official Nathan-melech. He burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

12 The king demolished the altars[b] that the kings of Judah had built on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz as well as the two altars that Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He broke them to pieces and cast them into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were to the east of Jerusalem, that is, to the south of the Hill of Corruption which Solomon, the king of Israel, had dedicated to the Ashtaroth, the vile goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the vile god of the Moabites, and to Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.

14 He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He defiled these places with human bones. 15 He broke down the altar in Bethel, the altar and the high place that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had built. He burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and he also burned the Asherah.

16 Josiah looked around and when he saw that there were graves on the hillside, he sent for and removed the bones from the graves. He burned them upon the altar to defile it. This fulfilled the word of the Lord that the man of God had proclaimed through these words.

17 He then asked, “What is that monument that I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.” 18 He said, “Leave it alone! Do not let anyone disturb his bones!” So they left his bones and the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19 Josiah also removed all of the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had established, thus provoking the Lord to anger, just as he had done at Bethel.

20 Josiah killed all of the priests of the high places upon the altars and he burned human bones upon them. He then returned to Jerusalem.

21 The king then commanded all of the people saying, “Observe the Passover of the Lord, your God, according to what is written in this book of this covenant.” 22 Passover had not been observed from the days of the judges who governed Israel nor all throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 This Passover of the Lord was celebrated in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Josiah.

24 Josiah also expelled the mediums and the wizards. He did away with the household gods, the idols, and all the other abominations that were to be found in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. He did this to fulfill the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the temple of the Lord.

25 There had never before been any king like him nor will there ever be one after him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his might according to the law of Moses.

26 In spite of this, the Lord did not turn away the heat of his fierce anger which raged against Judah because all of the things that Manasseh had done to provoke his anger. 27 The Lord said, “I will remove Judah from out of my sight just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the temple of which I said: My name will be there.”

28 [c]As for all of the other deeds of Josiah, what he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

29 During his reign, Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, traveled up to the Euphrates River to give his assistance to the king of Assyria. King Josiah attacked him. When Pharaoh Neco saw him at Megiddo, he killed him. 30 His servants brought his dead body back from Megiddo to Jerusalem and they buried him in his own tomb.

The people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and they anointed him as king in his father’s stead.

31 Reign of Jehoahaz. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, and she was the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

32 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, everything that his fathers had done.

33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem. He imposed a tribute upon the land of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.[d]

34 Pharaoh Neco appointed Eliakim, the son of Josiah, as king in his father’s stead. He changed his name to Jehoiakim, and he took Jehoahaz away when he returned to Egypt, where he died.

35 Jehoiakim gave silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to get the money that Pharaoh had demanded. He taxed the people of the land according to their assessments for the silver and the gold that he had to give to Pharaoh.

36 Reign of Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah, and she was the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.

37 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, everything that his fathers had done.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 23:10 Topheth: a crematory for the sacrifice of children.
  2. 2 Kings 23:12 Altars: dedicated to the astral divinities (see 2 Ki 21:3f; Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5).
  3. 2 Kings 23:28 After the threat from Assyria (which was attacked by the Babylonians and Medes in 616 B.C.; Nineveh fell in 612 B.C.), came the threat from Egypt. Josiah tried to stop the pharaoh as the latter was marching to the aid of Assyria; Josiah opposed him at Haran but it ended tragically (609 B.C.).
  4. 2 Kings 23:33 Talent of gold: this is an unusually small amount to be charged and is rendered in older translations as ten or one hundred talents.
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2 Re 23
Conferenza Episcopale Italiana

Solenne lettura della legge

23 Per suo ordine si radunarono presso il re tutti gli anziani di Giuda e di Gerusalemme. 2 Il re salì al tempio del Signore insieme con tutti gli uomini di Giuda e con tutti gli abitanti di Gerusalemme, con i sacerdoti, con i profeti e con tutto il popolo, dal più piccolo al più grande. Ivi fece leggere alla loro presenza le parole del libro dell'alleanza, trovato nel tempio. 3 Il re, in piedi presso la colonna, concluse un'alleanza davanti al Signore, impegnandosi a seguire il Signore e a osservarne i comandi, le leggi e i decreti con tutto il cuore e con tutta l'anima, mettendo in pratica le parole dell'alleanza scritte in quel libro. Tutto il popolo aderì all'alleanza.

Riforma religiosa in Giuda

4 Il re comandò al sommo sacerdote Chelkia, ai sacerdoti del secondo ordine e ai custodi della soglia di condurre fuori del tempio tutti gli oggetti fatti in onore di Baal, di Asera e di tutta la milizia del cielo; li bruciò fuori di Gerusalemme, nei campi del Cedron, e ne portò la cenere a Betel. 5 Destituì i sacerdoti, creati dai re di Giuda per offrire incenso sulle alture delle città di Giuda e dei dintorni di Gerusalemme, e quanti offrivano incenso a Baal, al sole e alla luna, alle stelle e a tutta la milizia del cielo. 6 Fece portare il palo sacro dal tempio fuori di Gerusalemme, nel torrente Cedron, e là lo bruciò e ne fece gettar la cenere nel sepolcro dei figli del popolo. 7 Demolì le case dei prostituti sacri, che erano nel tempio, e nelle quali le donne tessevano tende per Asera. 8 Fece venire tutti i sacerdoti dalle città di Giuda, profanò le alture, dove i sacerdoti offrivano incenso, da Gheba a Bersabea; demolì l'altura dei satiri, che era davanti alla porta di Giosuè governatore della città, a sinistra di chi entra per la porta della città.

9 Però i sacerdoti delle alture non salirono più all'altare del Signore in Gerusalemme, anche se mangiavano pane azzimo in mezzo ai loro fratelli. 10 Giosia profanò il Tofet, che si trovava nella valle di Ben-Hinnòn, perché nessuno vi facesse passare ancora il proprio figlio o la propria figlia per il fuoco in onore di Moloch. 11 Fece scomparire i cavalli che i re di Giuda avevano consacrati al sole all'ingresso del tempio, nel locale dell'eunuco Netan-Mèlech, che era nei cortili, e diede alle fiamme i carri del sole. 12 Demolì gli altari sulla terrazza del piano di sopra di Acaz, eretti dai re di Giuda, e gli altari eretti da Manàsse nei due cortili del tempio, li frantumò e ne gettò la polvere nel torrente Cedron. 13 Il re profanò le alture che erano di fronte a Gerusalemme, a sud del monte della perdizione, erette da Salomone, re di Israele, in onore di Astàrte, obbrobrio di quelli di Sidòne, di Càmos, obbrobrio dei Moabiti, e di Milcom, abominio degli Ammoniti. 14 Fece a pezzi le stele e tagliò i pali sacri, riempiendone il posto con ossa umane.

La riforma si estende all'antico regno del nord

15 Demolì anche l'altare di Betel e l'altura eretta da Geroboamo figlio di Nebàt, che aveva fatto commettere peccati a Israele; demolì quest'altare e l'altura; di quest'ultima frantumò le pietre, rendendole polvere; bruciò anche il palo sacro.

16 Volgendo Giosia lo sguardo intorno vide i sepolcri che erano sul monte; egli mandò a prendere le ossa dai sepolcri e le bruciò sull'altare profanandolo secondo le parole del Signore pronunziate dall'uomo di Dio quando Geroboamo durante la festa stava presso l'altare. Quindi si voltò; alzato lo sguardo verso il sepolcro dell'uomo di Dio che aveva preannunziato queste cose, 17 Giosia domandò: «Che è quel monumento che io vedo?». Gli uomini della città gli dissero: «E' il sepolcro dell'uomo di Dio che, partito da Giuda, preannunziò quanto tu hai fatto contro l'altare di Betel». 18 Egli disse: «Lasciatelo in pace; nessuno rimuova le sue ossa». Le ossa di lui in tal modo furono risparmiate, insieme con le ossa del profeta venuto da Samaria.

19 Giosia eliminò anche tutti i templi delle alture, costruiti dai re di Israele nelle città della Samaria per provocare a sdegno il Signore. In essi ripetè quanto aveva fatto a Betel. 20 Immolò sugli altari tutti i sacerdoti delle alture locali e vi bruciò sopra ossa umane. Quindi ritornò in Gerusalemme.

Celebrazione della Pasqua

21 Il re ordinò a tutto il popolo: «Celebrate la pasqua per il Signore vostro Dio, con il rito descritto nel libro di questa alleanza». 22 Difatti una pasqua simile non era mai stata celebrata dal tempo dei Giudici, che governarono Israele, ossia per tutto il periodo dei re di Israele e dei re di Giuda. 23 In realtà, tale pasqua fu celebrata per il Signore, in Gerusalemme, solo nell'anno diciotto di Giosia.

Conclusione sulla riforma religiosa

24 Giosia fece poi scomparire anche i negromanti, gli indovini, i terafim, gli idoli e tutti gli abomini, che erano nel paese di Giuda e in Gerusalemme, per mettere in pratica le parole della legge scritte nel libro trovato dal sacerdote Chelkia nel tempio. 25 Prima di lui non era esistito un re che come lui si fosse convertito al Signore con tutto il cuore e con tutta l'anima e con tutta la forza, secondo tutta la legge di Mosè; dopo di lui non ne sorse un altro simile.

26 Tuttavia il Signore non attenuò l'ardore della sua grande ira, che era divampata contro Giuda a causa di tutte le provocazioni di Manàsse. 27 Perciò il Signore disse: «Anche Giuda allontanerò dalla mia presenza, come ho allontanato Israele; respingerò questa città, Gerusalemme, che mi ero scelta, e il tempio di cui avevo detto: Ivi sarà il mio nome».

Fine del regno di Giosia

28 Le altre gesta di Giosia e tutte le sue azioni sono descritte nel libro delle Cronache dei re di Giuda.

29 Durante il suo regno, il faraone Necao re di Egitto si mosse per soccorrere il re d'Assiria sul fiume Eufrate. Il re Giosia gli andò incontro, ma Necao l'uccise in Meghiddo al primo urto. 30 I suoi ufficiali portarono su un carro il morto da Meghiddo a Gerusalemme e lo seppellirono nel suo sepolcro. Il popolo del paese prese Ioacaz figlio di Giosia, lo unse e lo proclamò re al posto di suo padre.

4. LA ROVINA DI GERUSALEMME

Regno di Ioacaz in Giudea (609)

31 Quando divenne re, Ioacaz aveva trentitrè anni; regnò tre mesi in Gerusalemme. Sua madre, di Libna, si chiamava Camutàl, figlia di Geremia. 32 Egli fece ciò che è male agli occhi del Signore, secondo quanto avevano fatto i suoi padri.

33 Il faraone Necao l'imprigionò a Ribla, nel paese di Amat, per non farlo regnare in Gerusalemme; al paese egli impose un gravame di cento talenti d'argento e di un talento d'oro. 34 Il faraone Necao nominò re Eliakìm figlio di Giosia, al posto di Giosia suo padre, cambiandogli il nome in Ioiakìm. Quindi prese Ioacaz e lo deportò in Egitto, ove morì. 35 Ioiakìm consegnò l'argento e l'oro al faraone, avendo tassato il paese per pagare il denaro secondo la disposizione del faraone. Con una tassa individuale, proporzionata ai beni, egli riscosse l'argento e l'oro dal popolo del paese per consegnarlo al faraone Necao.

Regno di Ioiakim in Giuda (609-598)

36 Quando divenne re, Ioiakìm aveva venticinque anni; regnò undici anni in Gerusalemme. Sua madre, di Ruma, si chiamava Zebida, figlia di Pedaia. 37 Fece ciò che è male agli occhi del Signore, secondo quanto avevano fatto i suoi padri.

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2 Kings 23
New International Version

Josiah Renews the Covenant(A)(B)(C)(D)

23 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read(E) in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant,(F) which had been found in the temple of the Lord. 3 The king stood by the pillar(G) and renewed the covenant(H) in the presence of the Lord—to follow(I) the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers(J) to remove(K) from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense(L) to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.(M) 6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley(N) outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder(O) and scattered the dust over the graves(P) of the common people.(Q) 7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes(R) that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba(S) to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve(T) at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 He desecrated Topheth,(U) which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(V) so no one could use it to sacrifice their son(W) or daughter in the fire to Molek. 11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah(X) had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court[a] near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.(Y)

12 He pulled down(Z) the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof(AA) near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts(AB) of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.(AC) 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon(AD) king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable(AE) god of the people of Ammon.(AF) 14 Josiah smashed(AG) the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.(AH)

15 Even the altar(AI) at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam(AJ) son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. 16 Then Josiah(AK) looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance(AL) with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.

17 The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?”

The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”

18 “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones(AM).” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet(AN) who had come from Samaria.

19 Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord’s anger. 20 Josiah slaughtered(AO) all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones(AP) on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

21 The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover(AQ) to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”(AR) 22 Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.(AS)

24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists,(AT) the household gods,(AU) the idols and all the other detestable(AV) things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned(AW) to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.(AX)

26 Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger,(AY) which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh(AZ) had done to arouse his anger. 27 So the Lord said, “I will remove(BA) Judah also from my presence(BB) as I removed Israel, and I will reject(BC) Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’[b]”

28 As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho(BD) king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo.(BE) 30 Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot(BF) from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz King of Judah(BG)

31 Jehoahaz(BH) was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal(BI) daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 32 He did evil(BJ) in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done. 33 Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah(BK) in the land of Hamath(BL) so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents[c] of silver and a talent[d] of gold. 34 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim(BM) son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died.(BN) 35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.(BO)

Jehoiakim King of Judah(BP)

36 Jehoiakim(BQ) was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 37 And he did evil(BR) in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 23:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  2. 2 Kings 23:27 1 Kings 8:29
  3. 2 Kings 23:33 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons
  4. 2 Kings 23:33 That is, about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms
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2 Kings 23
New King James Version

Josiah Restores True Worship(A)

23 Now (B)the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. 2 The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he (C)read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant (D)which had been found in the house of the Lord.

3 Then the king (E)stood by a pillar and made a (F)covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. 4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the (G)priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring (H)out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for [a]Asherah, and for all [b]the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the [c]constellations, and to (I)all the host of heaven. 6 And he brought out the (J)wooden[d] image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to (K)ashes, and threw its ashes on (L)the graves of the common people. 7 Then he tore down the ritual [e]booths (M)of the [f]perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, (N)where the (O)women wove hangings for the wooden image. 8 And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from (P)Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate. 9 (Q)Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, (R)but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.

10 And he defiled (S)Topheth, which is in (T)the Valley of the [g]Son of Hinnom, (U)that no man might make his son or his daughter (V)pass through the fire to Molech. 11 Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had [h]dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 The altars that were (W)on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which (X)Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron. 13 Then the king defiled the [i]high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the [j]south of [k]the Mount of Corruption, which (Y)Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon. 14 And he (Z)broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men.

15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the [l]high place (AA)which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. 16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the (AB)word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 17 Then he said, “What gravestone is this that I see?”

So the men of the city told him, “It is (AC)the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”

18 And he said, “Let him alone; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of (AD)the prophet who came from Samaria.

19 Now Josiah also took away all the [m]shrines of the [n]high places that were (AE)in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [o]the Lord to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. 20 (AF)He (AG)executed all the priests of the [p]high places who were there, on the altars, and (AH)burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, (AI)“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, (AJ)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 (AK)Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem. 24 Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of (AL)the law which were written in the book (AM)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25 (AN)Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.

Impending Judgment on Judah

26 Nevertheless the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, (AO)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27 And the Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, as (AP)I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, (AQ)‘My name shall be there.’ ”

Josiah Dies in Battle(AR)

28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 29 (AS)In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went [q]to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at (AT)Megiddo when he (AU)confronted him. 30 (AV)Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And (AW)the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoahaz(AX)

31 (AY)Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was (AZ)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison (BA)at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 Then (BB)Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and (BC)changed his name to (BD)Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz (BE)and went to Egypt, and [r]he died there.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah(BF)

35 So Jehoiakim gave (BG)the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give money according to the command of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho. 36 (BH)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 23:4 A Canaanite goddess
  2. 2 Kings 23:4 The gods of the Assyrians
  3. 2 Kings 23:5 Of the Zodiac
  4. 2 Kings 23:6 Heb. Asherah, a Canaanite goddess
  5. 2 Kings 23:7 Lit. houses
  6. 2 Kings 23:7 Heb. qedeshim, those practicing sodomy and prostitution in religious rituals
  7. 2 Kings 23:10 Kt. Sons
  8. 2 Kings 23:11 given
  9. 2 Kings 23:13 Places for pagan worship
  10. 2 Kings 23:13 Lit. right of
  11. 2 Kings 23:13 The Mount of Olives
  12. 2 Kings 23:15 A place for pagan worship
  13. 2 Kings 23:19 Lit. houses
  14. 2 Kings 23:19 Places for pagan worship
  15. 2 Kings 23:19 So with LXX, Syr., Vg.; MT, Tg. omit the Lord
  16. 2 Kings 23:20 Places for pagan worship
  17. 2 Kings 23:29 Or to attack, Heb. al can mean together with or against
  18. 2 Kings 23:34 Jehoahaz
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2 Kings 22
2 Kings 24
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