II Kings Chapter 23

II Kings Chapter 23
1Then the king 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 the pillar, and made a 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 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 burned them without Jerusalem in
the fields of Kidron, and carried the
powder of them into Beth-el.
5 And he put down the 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 burned 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 grove from the
temple of the Lord without Jerusalem
unto the valley of Kidron, and burned it
in the valley Kidron, and stamped it to
powder, and cast the dust thereof upon
the graves of the children of the people.
7 And he break 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 burned
incense, even from Geba to Beer-sheba,
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 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 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 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 Nathan-melech the
eunuch, which was ruler of the suburbs,
and burned 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 brook Kidron.
13 Moreover the king defiled the high
places that were before Jerusalem and
on the right hand of the mount of
corruption (which Solomon the king of
Israel had built for Ashtoreth the idol of
the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the idol
of the Moabites, and for Milcom the
abomination of the children of Ammon)
14 And he break the images in pieces,
and cut down the groves and filled their
places with the bones of men.
15 Furthermore the altar that was at
Beth-el, and the high place made by
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made
Israel to sin, both this altar and also the
high place, break he down, and burned
the high place, and stamped it to powder
and burned 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 burned them upon the altar
and polluted it, according to the word of
the Lord, that the 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 sepulchre of the man of
God, which came from Judah, and told
these things that thou hast done to the
altar of Beth-el.
18 Then said he, Let him alone: let none
remove his bones. So his bones were
saved with the bones of the 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 Beth-el. 20 And he sacrificed all
the priests of the high places, that were
there upon the altars, and burned men's
bones upon them, and returned to
Jerusalem. 21 Then the king commanded
all the people, saying, Keep the
Passover unto the Lord your God, as it is
written in the book of this covenant. 22
And there was no Passover holden 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 spied in the land
of Judah and in Jerusalem, to perform
the words of the 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 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, 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 In his days Pharaoh Necho king of
Egypt 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
sepulchre. 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 Jehoahaz was three and twenty year
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 fathers
had done.
33 And Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds
at Riblah in the land of Hamath, 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 year
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.