2 Kings 23
Josiah’s Reforms
aThen the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 2 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And ahe read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant bthat had been found in the house of the Lord. 3 And the king stood aby the pillar and bmade a covenant before the Lord, cto walk after 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 joined in the covenant.
4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests aof the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for bBaal, for cAsherah, and for all the host of heaven. dHe burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations aand all the host of the heavens. 6 And he brought out athe Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, band burned it at the brook Kidron cand beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves dof the common people. 7 And he broke down the houses of athe male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, bwhere the women wove hangings for cthe Asherah. 8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from aGeba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city. 9 aHowever, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10 And he defiled aTopheth, which is bin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, cthat no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to dMolech. 11 And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 And the altars aon the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars bthat Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them cinto the brook Kidron. 13 And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of athe mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for bAshtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for cChemosh the abomination of Moab, and for dMilcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14 And he broke in pieces the apillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected aby Jeroboam the son of Nebat, bwho made Israel to sin, cthat altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. 16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, aaccording to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 17 Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, a“It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” 18 And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones aof the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19 And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were ain the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 20 And ahe sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, band burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Josiah Restores the Passover
21 And the king commanded all the people, a“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, bas it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 aFor no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover, Josiah put away athe mediums and the necromancers and bthe household gods and cthe idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish dthe words of the law that were written in the book ethat Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25 aBefore him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.
26 Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, abecause of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27 And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, aas I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, band the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”
Josiah’s Death in Battle
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 aIn his days bPharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at cMegiddo, as soon as he saw him. 30 aAnd his servants carried him dead in a chariot from bMegiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. cAnd the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
Jehoahaz’s Reign and Captivity
31 aJehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, aaccording to all that his fathers had done. 33 And aPharaoh Neco put him in bonds at bRiblah in the land of cHamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And aPharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and bchanged his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, cand he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim agave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah
36 aJehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, aaccording to all that his fathers had done.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.