Israel to Destroy Idolatrous Nations

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land^(A) you are entering to possess,^(B) and he drives out many nations before you—the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations^(C) more numerous and powerful than you^(D)— ² and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy^(E) them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.^{(F) 3} You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,^{(G) 4} because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods.^(H) Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you,^(I) and he will swiftly destroy you. ⁵ Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles,^(J) and burn their carved images.

² Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods^(A)—on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.^{(B) 3} Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every^[a] place.^(C)

² Then the king went to the Lord’s temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people from the youngest to the oldest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant^(A) that had been found in the Lord’s temple.^{(B) 3} Next, the king stood by the pillar^[a](C) and made a covenant^(D) in the Lord’s presence to follow the Lord and to keep his commands, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul^(E) in order to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to^[b] the covenant.^(F)

Josiah’s Reforms

⁴ Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiah^(G) and the priests of the second rank^(H) and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord’s sanctuary all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the stars in the sky.^(I) He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.^{(J) 5} Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places^(K) in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and all the stars in the sky.^{(L) 6} He brought out the Asherah pole^(M) from the Lord’s temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley,^(N) beat it to dust,^(O) and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.^[c](P)