2 Kings 23:2-20 The king went up to the Temple of Jehovah. All the inhabitants of Judah young and old also went to Jehovah’s Temple. Josiah read everything written in the Book of the Promise found in Jehovah’s Temple so they could all hear it.

NSB⁽ⁱ⁾ ² The king went up to the Temple of Jehovah. All the inhabitants of Judah young and old also went to Jehovah’s Temple. Josiah read everything written in the Book of the Promise found in Jehovah’s Temple so they could all hear it. ³ The king stood beside the pillar and made a promise to Jehovah that he would follow Jehovah and obey his commands, instructions, and laws with all his heart and mind. He confirmed the terms of the promise written in this book. All the people joined in the promise. ⁴ Then the king ordered the high priest Hilkiah, the priests who served under Hilkiah, and the doorkeepers to remove from Jehovah’s Temple all utensils that had been made for Baal, Asherah, and the entire army of heaven. Josiah burned the utensils outside Jerusalem. It was in an open field near the Kidron Brook. Then he carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He got rid of the pagan priests. The kings of Judah appointed them to sacrifice at the illegal places of worship in the cities of Judah and all around Jerusalem. They had been sacrificing to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations of the zodiac (Mazzalohth Constellation-Job 38:32), and the entire army of heaven. ⁶ He removed the pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah from the temple. He took it to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. There he burned it in the Kidron Valley, ground it to dust, and threw its ashes on the tombs of the common people. ⁷ He tore down the houses of the male temple (cult) prostitutes who were in Jehovah’s Temple. This is where women did weaving for Asherah. ⁸ He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah from Geba to Beersheba and made the places where those priests sacrificed unclean. He tore down the worship site at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the gate named after the mayor of the city. The worship site was to the left of anyone going through the city gate. ⁹ The priests of the illegal worship sites had never gone to Jehovah’s altar in Jerusalem. Instead, they ate their unleavened bread among the other worshipers. ¹⁰ Josiah also made Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom unclean so that people would never again sacrifice their sons or daughters by burning them to the god Molech. ¹¹ He also removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the worship of the sun. He burned the chariots used in this worship. ¹² The altars the kings of Judah built on the palace roof above King Ahaz' quarters, King Josiah tore down, along with the altars put up by King Manasseh in the two courtyards of the Temple. He smashed the altars to bits and threw them into Kidron Valley. ¹³ The king made the illegal places of worship east of Jerusalem unclean. They were on the southern part of the Hill of Destruction. King Solomon of Israel built them for Astarte the disgusting goddess of the Sidonians. Also made unclean were references to Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Milcom the disgusting god of the Ammonites. ¹⁴ Josiah crushed the sacred stones. He cut down the poles dedicated to Asherah. And he filled their places with human bones. ¹⁵ He also tore down the altar at Bethel the place of worship made by Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin. He tore down both the altar and the place of worship. They burned the worship site. They crushed it into powder and burned the pole dedicated to Asherah. ¹⁶ Josiah turned and saw the tombs on the hill. He sent men to take the bones out of the tombs and burn them on the altar to make it unclean. This fulfilled the word of Jehovah announced by the man of God. ¹⁷ »What is that headstone I see over there?« Josiah asked. The men of the town said: »It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah. The one who foretold all these things you have done to the altar of Bethel.« ¹⁸ He said: »Let him be. Do not move his bones.« So they let his bones be with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. ¹⁹ Josiah removed all the houses of the high places the kings of Israel built in the towns of Samaria. This provoked Jehovah to anger and he did with them as he had done in Bethel. ²⁰ He killed all the priests of the high places on the altars. Their bones were burned on the altars. Then the king went back to Jerusalem.