Add parallel Print Page Options

Josiah Follows the Teachings of God's Law

(2 Chronicles 34.3-7)

(A) Josiah told Hilkiah the priest, the assistant priests, and the guards at the temple door to go into the temple and bring out the things used to worship Baal, Asherah, and the stars. Josiah had these things burned in Kidron Valley just outside Jerusalem, and he had the ashes carried away to the town of Bethel.

Josiah also got rid of the pagan priests at the local shrines in Judah and around Jerusalem. These were the men that the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices to Baal and to the sun, moon, and stars. Josiah had the sacred pole[a] for Asherah brought out of the temple and taken to Kidron Valley, where it was burned. He then had its ashes ground into dust and scattered over the public cemetery there.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 23.6 sacred pole: See the note at 13.6,7.

The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers(A) to remove(B) from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense(C) to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.(D) He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley(E) outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder(F) and scattered the dust over the graves(G) of the common people.(H)

Read full chapter