nd Kings _Chapter 23

The king sent people to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

The king, all the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, prophets, and all the people, big and small, went up together to the temple of the Lord. The king read the book of the covenant obtained in the temple of the Lord to them.

The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to obey the Lord with all his heart and soul, to keep his commandments, testimonies, and laws, and to fulfill the covenant written in this book. All the people obey this agreement.

The king commanded the high priest Hilkiah and the deputy priest, as well as the gatekeeper, to bring out the vessels made for Baal, Asherah, and all the things in heaven from the temple of the Lord, and to burn them in the field by the Kidron River outside Jerusalem, and to bring the ashes to Bethel.

Once upon a time, the priests who worshipped idols appointed by the kings of Judah burned incense in the high places of the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem. Now the kings have abolished them, and they have also abolished those who burn incense to Baal, the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the phenomena in heaven.

He also brought Asherah from the temple of the Lord and burned it by the Kidron River outside Jerusalem, breaking it into ashes and scattering it on the graves of the common people.

And he also demolished the house of the sodomites in the temple of the Lord, which was the house where women wove tents for Asherah,

And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. He also demolished the high places next to the city gate, which were in front of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, and entered the left side of the city gate.

But the priests of the high places did not ascend to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, and only ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

And he defiled Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and did not allow anyone to bring their children to offer to Molech by fire there.

He also took away the horses offered by the kings of Judah to the sun in the house of Nathan Miller, the eunuch, near the porch of the temple of the Lord, and burned the chariots with fire.

The altars built by the kings of Judah on the roof of Ahaz and the altars built by Manasseh in the two courtyards of the temple of the Lord were demolished and broken, and the king poured ash into the Kidron River.

Once upon a time, King Solomon of Israel built high altars on the right side of a secluded mountain in front of Jerusalem, which were Ashtaroth, the detestable God of the Sidonians, Chemosh, the detestable God of the Moabites, and Miller, the detestable God of the Ammonites. The king had defiled them all,

And he shattered the pillars, cut down the wooden puppets, and filled the place with human bones.

He demolished and burned the altar of Bethel, which was built by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He shattered it into ashes and burned the Asherah.

Josiah turned around and saw the tomb on the mountain. He sent someone to take out the bones from the tomb, burn them on the altar, and defile it, just as the man of God had preached the word of the Lord before.

Josiah asked, “What monument am I seeing?”. The people of the city replied, “A man of God came from Judah and prophesied what the king is doing to the altar of Bethel. This is his tombstone.”.

Josiah said, Let him be. Don’t move his bones. They did not touch his bones, nor did they touch the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

Once upon a time, the kings of Israel built high places and temples in the cities of Samaria, which provoked the anger of the Lord. Now Josiah has taken them all away, just as he did in Bethel.

And he killed all the priests of the high places on the altar, and burned human bones on the altar, and returned to Jerusalem.

The king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this covenant.

Since the time when the judges ruled over Israel, the king of Israel, and the king of Judah, until now, there has never been such a Passover.

Only in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign did he observe this Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem.

Josiah completely removed all demons, witches, household gods and idols, and all detestable things from Judah and Jerusalem, fulfilling the words written in the book of the law that Hilkiah the priest obtained in the temple of the Lord.

Before Josiah, there was no king who turned to the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might, and did all the laws of Moses. No king rose like him in his future.

However, the fierce anger of the Lord against Judah did not cease because of all the things that Manasseh had provoked him.

The Lord said, I will drive out Judah from before me, just as I have driven out Israel. I will abandon the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen before, and the temple where I said I will establish my name.

And all the other things that Josiah did were written in the book of the kings of Judah.

During the reign of Josiah, King Pharaoh Nico of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to attack the king of Assyria. King Josiah went to resist him. The king of Egypt met Josiah in Megiddo and killed him.

His servants drove his body from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried it in his own tomb. The nation anointed Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, as king in his place.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother’s name was Hamutah, the daughter of Jeremiah the Litnah.

Jehoahaz did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as all his ancestors did.

Pharaoh Nico imprisoned Jehoahaz in Liberah in the land of Hamath and forbade him from reigning in Jerusalem. He also punished Judah with one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

Pharaoh Nico made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. However, he brought Jehoahaz to Egypt and he died there.

Jehoiakim gave gold and silver to Pharaoh, and according to Pharaoh’s command, he requisitioned gold and silver from the people, according to each person’s strength, to demand gold and silver for Pharaoh Nico.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name is Zebdah, the daughter of Pedayah from Rumah.

Jehoiakim did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as all his ancestors did.