23 2 Josiah readeth the Law before the people. 3 He maketh a covenant with the Lord. 4 He putteth down the idols, after he had killed their Priests. 22 He keepeth Passover. 24 He destroyeth the conjurers. 29 He was killed in Megiddo. 30 And his son Jehoahaz reigneth in his stead. 33 After he was taken, his son Jehoiakim was made King.
1 Then (A)the King [a]sent, and there gathered unto him all the Elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
2 And the king went up into the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the Priests and Prophets, and all the people both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord.
3 And the king stood by [b]the pillar, and made a [c]covenant before the Lord, that they should walk after the Lord, and keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all their heart, and with all their soul, that they might accomplish the words of this covenant written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high [d]Priest, and the Priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven, and he burnt them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried [e]the powder of them into Bethel.
5 And he put down the [f]Chemarims, whom the kings of Judah had founded to burn incense in the high places, and in the cities of Judah and about Jerusalem, and also them that burnt incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he brought out the [g]grove from the Temple of the Lord, without Jerusalem unto the valley of Kidron, and burnt it in the valley Kidron, and stamped it to powder, and cast the dust thereof upon the [h]graves of the children of the people.
7 And he brake down the houses of the Sodomites, that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
8 Also he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the Priests had burnt incense, even from Geba to Beersheba, and destroyed the high places of the gates, that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which was at the left hand of the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless the Priests of the high places [i]came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, save only they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 He defiled also [j]Topheth, which was in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man should make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
11 He put down also the [k]horses that the Kings of Judah had given to the sun at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nethan-Melech the eunuch, which was ruler of the suburbs, and burnt the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 And the altars that were on the top of the chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord did the king break down, and hasted thence, and cast the dust of them in the [l]brook Kidron.
13 Moreover the King defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, and on the right hand of the [m]mount of corruption (which (B)Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the idol of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the idol of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon)
14 And he brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Furthermore [n]the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place made by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin, both this altar and also the high place, brake he down, and burnt the high place, and stamped it to powder and burnt the grove.
16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the graves that were in the mount, and sent and took the bones out of the graves, and burnt them upon the altar and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord, that the [o]man of God proclaimed, which cried the same words.
17 Then he said, What title is that which I see? And the men of the city said unto him, It is the sepulcher of the man of God, which came from Judah, and told these things that thou hast done to the altar of Bethel.
18 Then said he, Let him alone: let none remove his bones. So his bones were saved with the bones of the [p]Prophet that came from Samaria.
19 Josiah also took away all the houses of the high places, which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to anger the Lord, and did to them according to all the facts that he had done in Bethel.
20 And he sacrificed all the Priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burnt men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
21 ¶ Then the king commanded all the people, saying, (C)Keep the Passover unto the Lord your God, (D)as it is written in the book of this covenant.
22 And there was no Passover holden [q]like that from the days of the Judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah.
23 And in the eighteenth year of King Josiah was this Passover celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Josiah also took away them that had familiar spirits, and the soothsayers, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were espied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, to perform the words of the (E)Law, which were written in the book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the house of the Lord.
25 Like unto him was there no king before him, that 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, neither after him arose there any like him.
26 Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the [r]fierceness of his great wrath wherewith he was angry against Judah, because of all the provocations wherewith Manasseh had provoked him.
27 Therefore the Lord said, I will put Judah also out of my sight, as I have put away Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the house whereof I said, (F)My name shall be there.
28 Concerning 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 (G)In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt [s]went up against the king of Assyria to the river Perath. And king Josiah went against him, whom when Pharaoh saw, he slew him at Megiddo.
30 Then his servants carried him dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulcher. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.
31 (H)Jehoahaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his [t]fathers had done.
33 And Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds [u]at Riblah in the land of Hamath [v]while he reigned in Jerusalem, and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
34 ¶ And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king instead of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away, which when he came to Egypt, died there.
35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, and taxed the land to give the money, according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he levied of every man of the people of the land, according to his value, silver and gold to give unto Pharaoh Necho.
36 Jehoiakim was five and twenty years old, when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also 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
- 2 Kings 23:1 Because he saw the great plagues of God that were threatened, he knew no more speedy way to avoid them, than to turn to God by repentance which cannot come but of faith, and faith by hearing of the word of God.
- 2 Kings 23:3 Where the king had his place, 2 Kings 11:14.
- 2 Kings 23:3 As Joshua did, Josh. 24:22, 25.
- 2 Kings 23:4 Meaning, them which were next in dignity to the high Priest.
- 2 Kings 23:4 In contempt of that altar, which Jeroboam had there built to sacrifice to his calves.
- 2 Kings 23:5 Meaning, the priests of Baal, which were called Chemarims, either because they wore black garments, or else were smoked with burning incense to idols.
- 2 Kings 23:6 He removed the grove which idolaters for devotion had planted near unto the Temple, contrary to the commandment of the Lord, Deut. 16:21, or as some read, the similitude of a grove which was hung in the Temple.
- 2 Kings 23:6 Both in contempt of the idols and reproach of them which had worshipped them in their lives.
- 2 Kings 23:9 Because that those that had forsaken the Lord to serve idols, were not meet to minister in the service of the Lord for the instruction of others.
- 2 Kings 23:10 Which was a valley near to Jerusalem, and signifieth a taboret, because they smote on the taboret while their children were burning, that their cry should not be heard, Lev. 18:21, where after Josiah commanded carrions to be cast in contempt thereof.
- 2 Kings 23:11 The idolatrous kings had dedicated horses and chariots to the sun, either to carry the image thereof about as the heathen did, or else to sacrifice them as a sacrifice most agreeable.
- 2 Kings 23:12 Or, valley.
- 2 Kings 23:13 That was the mount of olives, so called because it was full of idols.
- 2 Kings 23:15 Which Jeroboam had built in Israel, 1 Kings 12:28, 29.
- 2 Kings 23:16 According to the prophecy of Iddo, 1 Kings 13:2.
- 2 Kings 23:18 Meaning, the Prophet which came after him, and caused him to eat contrary to the commandment of the Lord, which were both two buried in one grave, 1 Kings 13:31.
- 2 Kings 23:22 For the multitude and zeal of the people with the great preparation.
- 2 Kings 23:26 Because of the wicked heart of the people, which would not turn unto him by repentance.
- 2 Kings 23:29 Because he passed through his country, he feared lest he would have done him harm, and therefore would have stayed him, yet he consulted not with the Lord, and therefore was slain.
- 2 Kings 23:32 Meaning, the wicked kings before.
- 2 Kings 23:33 Which was Antioch in Syria, called also Hamath.
- 2 Kings 23:33 Or, that he should not reign.