True Worship of God Is Restored
4 Kingdoms 23, verse 1. Now the king sent and gathered to himself all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 2. The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great. He read all the words of the Book of the Covenant discovered in the house of the Lord for them to hear. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 3. Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to conform to the words of this covenant written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 4. So the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and those who had charge of the weights, to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal, and for the sacred wooden image, and for all the host of heaven. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 5. And he put an end to the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places, in the cities of Judah, and in the places all around Jerusalem. This included those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 6. Then he took the wooden image from the house of the Lord to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes. He threw its ashes on the graves of the sons of the people. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 7. So in the house of the Lord, he tore down the ritual booths of the male temple prostitutes, the place where the women wove linen garments for the wooden image. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 8. Then he led up all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. And he pulled down the house of the gate by the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which was to the left of the city gate. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 9. Only the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, for they only ate leavened bread among their brethren. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 10. He defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire as an offering to Molech. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 11. Then he removed the horses the kings of Judah dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the offering box of Nathan, the king's eunuch, in the court. He burned the chariot of the sun with fire. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 12. As for the altars made by the kings of Judah on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king pulled them down and removed them by force. He cast their dust into the Brook Kidron. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 13. Then the king defiled the house east of Jerusalem, on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom, the abomination of the people of Ammon. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 14. And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars, and he cut down the sacred wooden images and filled their places with human bones. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 15. As for the altar at Bethel, the high altar which Jeroboam the son of Nebat had made, who led Israel to sin, that altar and that high place he tore down and crushed the stones. He ground them into dust and burned the wooden image. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 16. As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs on the mountain there in the city. So he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar. He defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God had spoken when Jeroboam stood at the altar during the festival. And he turned and raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of God who spoke those words, 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 17. and he said, “What gravestone is this that I see?” So the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things you did against the altar of Bethel.” 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 18. Then he said, “Leave him alone. Let no one move his bones.” So his bones were saved along with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 19. Now Josiah also took away all the shrines of the high places, the ones the kings of Israel made in the cities of Samaria to provoke the Lord to anger. And he did to them as he had done in Bethel. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 20. He put to death all the priests of the high places on the altars, and burned human bones on them, and returned to Jerusalem.
Passover and Order Restored
4 Kingdoms 23, verse 21. King Josiah commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the Lord our God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 22. Such a Passover had not been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, not in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 23. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the Passover was held to the Lord in Jerusalem. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 24. So Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and wizards, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did so that he might perform the words of the Law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 25. Before him, there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses. There was no king like him who arose after him. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 26. Yet the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath aroused against Judah. For all the provocations of Manasseh had provoked Him. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 27. So the Lord said, “I shall also remove Judah from My sight, as I removed Israel. I shall reject this city Jerusalem which I chose, and the house where I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
Josiah Killed in Battle
4 Kingdoms 23, verse 28. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and everything he did, are these not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 29. In his days, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 30. Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.
Jehoahaz Is King of Judah
4 Kingdoms 23, verse 31. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he ruled for three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 32. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all the things his fathers had done. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 33. Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not rule in Jerusalem. He imposed a tribute on the land, a talent of gold and one hundred talents of silver. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 34. Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.
Jehoiakim Is King of Judah
4 Kingdoms 23, verse 35. So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh. But at the command of Pharaoh, he taxed the land; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 36. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 4 Kingdoms 23, verse 37. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all his fathers had done.