Chapter 23

  And the king sendeth, and they gather unto him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem,  

--

  and the king goeth up to the house of Jehovah, and every man of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from small unto great, and he readeth in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that is found in the house of Jehovah.  

--

  And the king standeth by the pillar, and maketh the covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep His commands, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all the heart, and with all the soul, to establish the words of this covenant that are written on this book, and all the people stand in the covenant.  

--

  And the king commandeth Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out from the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that are made for Baal, and for the shrine, and for all the host of the heavens, and he burneth them at the outside of Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and hath borne their ashes to Beth-El.  

--

  And he hath caused to cease the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah have appointed, (and they make perfume in high places, in cities of Judah and suburbs of Jerusalem,) and those making perfume to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the heavens.  

--

  And he bringeth out the shrine from the house of Jehovah to the outside of Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burneth it at the brook Kidron, and beateth it small to dust, and casteth its dust on the grave of the sons of the people.  

--

  And he breaketh down the houses of the whoremongers that [are] in the house of Jehovah, where the women are weaving houses for the shrine.  

--

  And he bringeth in all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defileth the high places where the priests have made perfume, from Geba unto Beer-Sheba, and hath broken down the high places of the gates that [are] at the opening of the gate of Joshua, head of the city, that [is] on a man's left hand at the gate of the city;  

--

  only, the priests of the high places come not up unto the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they have eaten unleavened things in the midst of their brethren.  

--

  And he hath defiled Topheth, that [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no man doth cause his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech.  

--

  And he causeth to cease the horses that the kings of Judah have given to the sun from the entering in of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, that [is] in the suburbs, and the chariots of the sun he hath burnt with fire.  

--

  And the altars that [are] on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, that the kings of Judah made, and the altars that Manasseh made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, hath the king broken down, and removeth thence, and hath cast their dust unto the brook Kidron.  

--

  And the high places that [are] on the front of Jerusalem, that [are] on the right of the mount of corruption, that Solomon king of Israel had built to Ashtoreth abomination of the Zidonians, and Chemosh abomination of Moab, and to Milcom abomination of the sons of Ammon, hath the king defiled.  

--

  And he hath broken in pieces the standing-pillars, and cutteth down the shrines, and filleth their place with bones of men;  

--

  and also the altar that [is] in Beth-El, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat made, by which he made Israel sin, both that altar and the high place he hath broken down, and doth burn the high place -- he hath beat it small to dust, and hath burnt the shrine.  

--

  And Josiah turneth, and seeth the graves that [are] there in the mount, and sendeth and taketh the bones out of the graves, and burneth [them] on the altar, and defileth it, according to the word of Jehovah that the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.  

--

  And he saith, 'What [is] this sign that I see?' and the men of the city say unto him, 'The grave of the man of God who hath come from Judah, and proclaimeth these things that thou hast done concerning the altar of Beth-El.'  

--

  And he saith, 'Let him alone, let no man touch his bones;' and they let his bones escape, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.  

--

  And also all the houses of the high places that [are] in the cities of Samaria, that the kings of Israel made to provoke to anger, hath Josiah turned aside, and doth to them according to all the deeds that he did in Beth-El.  

--

  And he slayeth all the priests of the high places who [are] there by the altars, and burneth the bones of man upon them, and turneth back to Jerusalem.  

--

  And the king commandeth the whole of the people, saying, 'Make ye a passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written on this book of the covenant.'  

--

  Surely there hath not been made like this passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, even all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah;  

--

  but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, hath this passover been made to Jehovah in Jerusalem.  

--

  And also, those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, hath Josiah put away, in order to establish the words of the law that are written on the book that Hilkiah the priest hath found in the house of Jehovah.  

--

  And like him there hath not been before him a king who turned back unto Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, and after him there hath none risen like him.  

--

  Only, Jehovah hath not turned back from the fierceness of His great anger with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh provoked him,  

--

  and Jehovah saith, 'Also Judah I turn aside from my presence, as I turned Israel aside, and I have rejected this city that I have chosen -- Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name is there.'  

--

  And the rest of the matters of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?  

--

  In his days hath Pharaoh-Nechoh king of Egypt come up against the king of Asshur, by the river Phrat, and king Josiah goeth out to meet him, and he putteth him to death in Megiddo, when he seeth him.  

--

  And his servants cause him to ride dying from Megiddo, and bring him in to Jerusalem, and bury him in his own grave, and the people of the land take Jehoahaz son of Josiah, and anoint him, and cause him to reign instead of his father.  

--

  A son of twenty and three years [is] Jehoahaz in his reigning, and three months he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah,  

--

  and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers did,  

--

  and Pharaoh-Nechoh bindeth him in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and he putteth a fine on the land -- a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.  

--

  And Pharaoh-Nechoh causeth Eliakim son of Josiah to reign instead of Josiah his father, and turneth his name to Jehoiakim, and Jehoahaz he hath taken away, and he cometh in to Egypt, and dieth there.  

--

  And the silver and the gold hath Jehoiakim given to Pharaoh; only he valued the land to give the silver by the command of Pharaoh; from each, according to his valuation, he exacted the silver and the gold, from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh-Nechoh.  

--

  A son of twenty and five years [is] Jehoiakim in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Zebudah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah,  

--

  and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers did.  

--