II Kings 23

1And they reported to the king what she had said. And he sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.

2 Chronicles 34:29, 2 Chronicles 34:33, 2 Chronicles 34:29, 2 Chronicles 34:33, 2 Chronicles 29:20

2And the king ascended to the temple of the Lord. And with him were all the men of Judah and all who were living in Jerusalem: the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from the small to the great. And in the hearing of everyone, he read all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord.

2 Kings 22:8, 2 Kings 22:8, Deuteronomy 31:10, Deuteronomy 31:13, Deuteronomy 31:10

3And the king stood upon the step. And he struck a covenant before the Lord, so that they would walk after the Lord, and keep his precepts and testimonies and ceremonies, with all their heart and with all their soul, and so that they would carry out the words of this covenant, which had been written in that book. And the people agreed to the covenant.

2 Kings 11:14, 2 Kings 11:14, 2 Kings 11:17, 2 Kings 11:17, Deuteronomy 13:4

4And the king instructed Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, so that they would cast out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels which had been made for Baal, and for the sacred grove, and for the entire army of heaven. And he burned them outside of Jerusalem, in the steep valley of Kidron. And he carried their dust into Bethel.

2 Kings 21:7, 2 Kings 21:3, 2 Kings 21:7, 2 Kings 21:3, 2 Chronicles 33:3

5And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to sacrifice in the high places throughout the cities of Judah, and all around Jerusalem, along with those who were burning incense to Baal, and to the Sun, and to the Moon, and to the twelve signs, and to the entire army of heaven.

Jeremiah 44:17, Jeremiah 44:19, Jeremiah 44:17, Jeremiah 44:19, 2 Kings 21:3

6And he caused the sacred grove to be carried away from the house of the Lord, outside of Jerusalem, to the steep valley of Kidron. And he burned it there, and reduced it to dust. And he cast the dust over the graves of the common people.

2 Chronicles 34:4, 2 Kings 23:15, 2 Chronicles 34:4, 2 Kings 23:15, 2 Kings 10:27

7Also, he destroyed the small places of the effeminate, which were in the house of the Lord, for which the women were weaving something like little houses in the sacred grove.

1 Kings 15:12, Ezekiel 16:16, 1 Kings 15:12, Ezekiel 16:16, 1 Kings 14:24

8And he gathered together all the priests from the cities of Judah. And he defiled the high places, where the priests were sacrificing, from Geba as far as Beersheba. And he tore down the altars of the gates at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the leader of the city, which was to the left of the gate of the city.

1 Kings 15:22, 1 Kings 15:22, Joshua 21:17, Joshua 21:17, Isaiah 10:29

9Yet truly, the priests of the high places did not ascend to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem. For they would only eat from the unleavened bread in the midst of their brothers.

Ezekiel 44:10, Ezekiel 44:14, Ezekiel 44:10, Ezekiel 44:14, Malachi 2:8

10Also, he defiled Topheth, which is in the steep valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no one would consecrate his son or his daughter, through fire, to Molech.

Isaiah 30:33, Isaiah 30:33, Leviticus 18:21, Jeremiah 19:6, Jeremiah 7:31

11Also, he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the Sun, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, beside the hallway of Nathan-melech, the eunuch, who was in Pharurim. And he burned the chariots of the Sun with fire.

Ezekiel 8:16, Ezekiel 8:16, 2 Chronicles 14:5, 2 Chronicles 34:4, 2 Kings 23:5

12Also, the altars which were upon the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the temple of the Lord, the king destroyed. And he hurried from there, and he scattered their ashes into the torrent Kidron.

Zephaniah 1:5, 2 Kings 21:5, Jeremiah 19:13, Zephaniah 1:5, 2 Kings 21:5

13Also, the high places which were in Jerusalem, to the right side of the Mount of Offense, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built to Ashtoreth, the idol of the Sidonians, and to Chemosh, the offense of Moab, and to Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.

1 Kings 11:7, 1 Kings 11:5, 1 Kings 11:7, 1 Kings 11:5, Numbers 21:29

14And he crushed the statues, and he cut down the sacred groves. And he filled their places with the bones of the dead.

Exodus 23:24, Deuteronomy 7:5, Exodus 23:24, Deuteronomy 7:5, 2 Kings 23:16

15Then too, the altar which was in Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made: both that altar and the high place he tore down, and burned, and reduced to dust. And then he also set fire to the sacred grove.

2 Kings 23:6, 1 Kings 14:16, 2 Kings 23:6, 1 Kings 14:16, 2 Kings 10:31

16And in that place Josiah, turning, saw the sepulchers which were on the mount. And he sent and took the bones from the sepulchers. And he burned them upon the altar, and he defiled it in accord with the word of the Lord, which was spoken by the man of God, who had predicted these events.

1 Kings 13:1, 1 Kings 13:2, 1 Kings 13:1, 1 Kings 13:2, Matthew 24:35

17And he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the citizens of that city responded to him: “It is the sepulcher of the man of God, who came from Judah, and who predicted these events, which you have carried out concerning the altar of Bethel.”

1 Kings 13:1, 1 Kings 13:1, 1 Kings 13:30, 1 Kings 13:31, 1 Kings 13:30

18And he said: “Permit him. Let no one move his bones.” And his bones have remained untouched, with the bones of the prophet who had arrived from Samaria.

1 Kings 13:31, 1 Kings 13:31, 1 Kings 13:1, 1 Kings 13:22, 1 Kings 13:1

19Then too, all the shrines of the high places, which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord, Josiah took away. And he acted toward them according to all the works that he had done in Bethel.

2 Chronicles 34:6, 2 Chronicles 34:7, 2 Chronicles 34:6, 2 Chronicles 34:7, Ezekiel 8:17

20And all the priests of the high places, who were in that place, he killed upon the altars. And he burned the bones of the men upon them. And he returned to Jerusalem.

2 Kings 11:18, 2 Kings 11:18, Exodus 22:20, 2 Chronicles 34:5, 2 Kings 10:25

21And he instructed all the people, saying: “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, according to what has been written in the book of this covenant.”

Deuteronomy 16:1, Deuteronomy 16:8, Deuteronomy 16:1, Deuteronomy 16:8, Numbers 9:2

22Now no similar Passover was kept, from the days of the judges, who judged Israel, and from all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah,

2 Chronicles 35:3, 2 Chronicles 35:19, 2 Chronicles 30:1, 2 Chronicles 30:3, 2 Chronicles 30:13

23as this Passover, which was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem, in the eighteenth year of king Josiah.

24Then too, Josiah took away those who divined by spirits, and the soothsayers, and the images of the idols, and the defilements, and the abominations, which had been in the land of Judah and Jerusalem, so that he might establish the words of the law, which were written in the book, which Hilkiah, the priest, found in the temple of the Lord.

Leviticus 19:31, Leviticus 19:31, 2 Kings 21:6, Genesis 31:19, 2 Kings 21:6

25There was no king before him similar to him, who returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength, in accord with the entire law of Moses. And after him, there rose up no one similar to him.

2 Kings 18:5, 2 Kings 18:5, Jeremiah 29:13, Jeremiah 29:13, John 1:17

26Yet truly, the Lord did not turn away from the wrath of his great fury, his fury which was enraged against Judah because of the provocations by which Manasseh had provoked him.

2 Kings 24:4, 2 Kings 21:11, 2 Kings 21:13, 2 Kings 24:4, 2 Kings 21:11

27And so the Lord said: “And now I will remove Judah from my face, just as I removed Israel. And I will cast aside this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the house, about which I said: My name shall be there.”

2 Kings 21:13, 2 Kings 18:11, 2 Kings 21:13, 2 Kings 18:11, 2 Kings 17:20

28Now the rest of the words of Josiah, and all that he did, have these not been written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

2 Kings 20:20, 2 Kings 20:20

29During his days, Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, ascended against the king of the Assyrians to the river Euphrates. And king Josiah went out to meet him. And when he had seen him, he was killed at Megiddo.

Jeremiah 46:2, Jeremiah 46:2, 2 Chronicles 35:20, 2 Chronicles 35:24, 2 Chronicles 35:20

30And his servants carried him dead from Megiddo. And they took him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his own sepulcher. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah. And they anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

2 Kings 9:28, 2 Kings 9:28, 2 Chronicles 36:1, 2 Chronicles 36:4, 2 Chronicles 36:1

31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.

Jeremiah 22:11, 2 Kings 24:18, 1 Chronicles 3:15, Jeremiah 22:11, 2 Kings 24:18

32And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

2 Kings 21:2, 2 Kings 21:7, 2 Kings 21:2, 2 Kings 21:7, 2 Kings 21:21

33And Pharaoh Neco bound him at Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem. And he imposed a penalty on the land: one hundred talents of silver, and one talent of gold.

1 Kings 8:65, 2 Kings 25:6, 1 Kings 8:65, 2 Kings 25:6, Jeremiah 52:26

34And Pharaoh Neco appointed Eliakim, the son of Josiah, as king in place of Josiah his father. And he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz away, and he brought him into Egypt, and there he died.

Ezekiel 19:3, Ezekiel 19:4, Ezekiel 19:3, Ezekiel 19:4, Jeremiah 22:11

35Now Jehoiakim gave silver and gold to Pharaoh, when he had taxed the land, according to each one who would contribute by the command of Pharaoh. And he exacted both silver and gold from the people of the land, from each one according to his ability, so that he would give to Pharaoh Neco.

2 Kings 23:33, 2 Kings 23:33, 2 Kings 15:19, 2 Kings 15:20, 2 Kings 15:19

36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah.

2 Chronicles 36:5, 2 Chronicles 36:5, Jeremiah 1:3, 1 Chronicles 3:15, Jeremiah 26:1

37And he did evil before the Lord, in accord with all that his fathers had done.

Ezekiel 19:5, Ezekiel 19:9, 2 Kings 23:32, 2 Chronicles 28:22, 2 Chronicles 28:25

II Kings Chapter 23