2 Kings 23:4-20 - Josiah's Reforms

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the entrance-hall, to bring forth, out of the temple of Yahweh, all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the Sacred Stem, and for all the army of the heavens, - and he burned them up outside Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel; ⁵ and he put down the idol-priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed, so that incense might be burned in the high places, in the cities of Judah, and round about Jerusalem, - them also that burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations, and to all the army of the heavens; ⁶ and he brought forth the Sacred Stem out of the house of Yahweh, outside Jerusalem, into the Kidron ravine, and burned it in the Kidron ravine, and crushed it to powder, - and cast the powder upon the graves of the sons of the people; ⁷ and he brake down the houses of the male devotees, which were in the house of Yahweh, - where the women did weave houses to the Sacred Stem;

⁸ and be brought in all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where, the priests, had burned incense, from Geba unto Beer-sheba, - and brake 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 hand, in the gate of the city; ⁹ howbeit, the priests of the high places came not up unto the altar of Yahweh, in Jerusalem, save only that they did eat unleavened bread in the midst of their brethren;

¹⁰ and he defiled Topheth, which was in the valley of the son of Hinnom, - so that no man might cause his son or his daughter to pass through the fire unto Molech; ¹¹ and he did away with the horses, which the kings of Judah had devoted to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, near the chamber of Nathan-melech the courtier, which was in the suburbs, also, the chariots of the sun, burned he with fire;

¹² and, the altars which were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, also the altars which Manasseh had made, in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, did the king break down, - and hurried away from thence, and cast out the powder of them into the Kidron ravine; ¹³ and, the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of destruction, which Solomon king of Israel had built unto Ashtoreth - the abomination of the Zidonians, and unto Chemosh - the abomination of the Moabites, and unto Milcom - the disgusting thing of the sons of Ammon, did the king defile; ¹⁴ and he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Sacred Stems, - and filled their place with human bones:

¹⁵ moreover also, the altar that was in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam son of Nebat made, wherewith he caused, Israel, to sin, - even that altar, and the high place, brake he down, - and burned the high place, crushing it to powder, and burned a Sacred Stem. ¹⁶ And, when Josiah turned, and saw the graves which were there, in the mount, he sent and took the bones out of the graves, and burned upon the altar, and defiled it, - according to the word of Yahweh, which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. ¹⁷ Then said he - What is yonder erection, which I do see? And the men of the city said unto him - The grave of the man of God, who came in out of Judah, and proclaimed these things, which thou hast done, concerning the altar of Bethel.

¹⁸ And he said - Let him rest, let, no man, disturb his bones. So they let his bones rest, with the bones of the prophet who came in out of Samaria.

¹⁹ Moreover also, all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made, so as to provoke Yahweh to anger, did Josiah remove, - and he did to them according to all the doings which he had done in Bethel; ²⁰ and he sacrificed all the priests of the high places, who were there, by the altars, and burned human bones thereupon, - and returned to Jerusalem.