⁴ 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. ⁵ 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) 6} 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) 7} He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes^(I) that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

⁸ Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba^(J) to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate.

³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God^(A) of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.

⁷ he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder^(A) and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

³³ Josiah removed all the detestable^(A) idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.