Josiah Abolishes Idolatry

⁴ The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the secondary order, and the doorkeepers to take out of the Lord’s Temple all of the implements that had been crafted for Baal, for Asherah, and for every star in the heavens. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried the ashes to Bethel. ⁵ The king unseated the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places throughout the cities of Judah and in the environs surrounding Jerusalem, including those who had been burning incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to every star in the heavens. ⁶ He brought the Asherah from the Lord’s Temple to the Kidron Brook outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Kidron brook, pulverized the ashes^[a] to dust, and scattered it^[b] over the graves of the common people.