1 The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders {ziknei: senior leaders} of Judah {Yehudah: the kingdom of Judah} and Jerusalem.
2 And the king went up to the house of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Sovereign}, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people from the least to the greatest, and he read in their hearing all the words of the covenant {berit: binding treaty} that had been found in the house of the LORD.
3 And the king stood upon the pillar and made the covenant before the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Renewer}, to walk after the LORD and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all the heart {lev: inner self} and all the soul, to establish the words of this covenant that were written upon this book; and all the people stood in the covenant.
4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers to bring out from the temple of the LORD {YHWH, Worship Purifier} all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the Asherah {asherah: sacred pole} and for the host of the heavens. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5 And he abolished the idolatrous priests {kemarim: temple-servants of foreign gods} whom the kings of Judah had appointed, those who burned incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, and also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven {shamayim: cosmic domain}.
6 And he brought out the Asherah {ʾasherah: cult pole} from the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Judge}, outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley; there he burned it, crushed it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the people {ʿam: lay community}.
7 And he tore down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes {hakdeshim: cultic temple prostitutes} that were in the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctuary Guardian}, where women wove cloth for Asherah.
8 And he brought all the priests {kohanim: hereditary religious functionaries} from the towns of Judah and defiled the high places where they had burned incense, from Geba {miggeva: northern border town} to Beersheba, and he broke down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city commander, which were on the left of the city gate.
9 But the priests of the high places did not ascend to the altar of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Lawgiver} in Jerusalem; rather, they ate unleavened bread {matzot: unleavened bread} among their brothers.
10 And he defiled the Topheth {tofet: place of burning}, which is in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, so that no one could cause his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech {molekh: Canaanite deity}.
11 And he removed the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun from the entrance of the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctuary Purifier}, to the chamber of Netan-Melek {Netan-Melek: given by king}, the official, which was in the precincts, and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 And the king tore down the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz—the ones the kings of Judah had made—and the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courts {chatserot: sacred precincts} of the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Guardian}. He broke them down from there and cast their dust into the Brook Kidron.
13 And the high places {bamot: cultic altars} that were east of Jerusalem and on the south side of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon, king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milkom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon—the king defiled {timme: made ritually impure} them.
14 And he broke the pillars {matzevot: standing stone monuments} and cut down the Asherah poles, and he filled their place with human bones {atsmot adam: remains signifying desecration}.
15 And also the altar that was in Bethel {beit-el: sanctuary town}, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat made, who caused Israel to sin; also that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he burned the high place, crushed it to dust {hedaq: grind fine}, and burned the Asherah pole.
16 And Josiah turned and saw the tombs {kevarim: burial chambers} on the mountain. He sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned them on the altar, defiling it according to the word of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Enforcer} proclaimed by the man of God, who had predicted these things.
17 And he said, “What is this monument that I see?” And the men of the city said to him, “It is the grave of the man of God {ish-ha-Elohim: prophetic servant} who came from Judah, and he proclaimed these words {devarim: utterances} that you have done against the altar at Bethel.”
18 And he said, “Let him be; let no one disturb his bones {atsamot: remains}.” So they spared his bones, along with those of the prophet {navi: spokesperson} who came from Samaria.
19 And also, Josiah removed all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke {lehakh’is: to incite vengeance} the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Enforcer}, and he did to them according to all the deeds which he had done in Bethel.
20 And he slaughtered {vayizbach: sacrificial act} all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars, and he burned human bones upon them. Then he returned to Jerusalem {Yerushalayim: central sanctuary city}.
21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, “Observe the Passover {pesach: remembrance festival} to the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Covenant Redeemer}, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
22 For no Passover {kappesakh: festival of deliverance} like this had been observed from the days of the judges {shofetim: tribal rulers} who judged Israel, nor during all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was observed for the LORD {YHWH, Covenant King} in Jerusalem {Yerushalayim: Temple Center}.
24 Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums, the spiritists, the household gods, the idols, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem in order to establish the words of the law {torah: covenant instruction} that were written in the book which Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD {YHWH, Lawgiver}.
25 And there was no king like him before who turned to the LORD {YHWH, Devoted Restorer} with all his heart {levav: inner being}, and with all his soul, and with all his might according to all the law of Moses; nor did any such arise after him.
26 Nevertheless, the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} did not turn from His fierce anger {charon appo: fierce wrath}, which burned against Judah because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him with.
27 And the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} said, “I will also remove {asir: removal of favor} Judah from My presence, just as I have removed Israel. And I have rejected this city which I have chosen—Jerusalem—and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
28 And the rest of the acts {divrei: recorded deeds} of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles {hayamim: official records} of the kings of Judah?
29 In his days Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the Euphrates River {nehar-perat: boundary region}, and King Josiah went out to meet him {liqrat: hostile encounter}, and Pharaoh Neco put him to death at Megiddo as soon as he saw him.
30 His servants conveyed him {vayarkivuhu: made him mount}, dead, in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his grave. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him {vayimshchu: consecrated with oil} and made him king in place of his father.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old {ben esrim ve-shalosh shanah: royal age formula} when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah {Libnah: Levitical city}.
32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Judge}, just as all his fathers {avotav: ancestral predecessors} had done.
33 Pharaoh {paroh: Egyptian ruler} Necho bound him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed a penalty {onesh: forced tribute} on the land—one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.
34 Pharaoh Neco {Par’oh: Egyptian monarch} appointed Eliakim the son of Josiah as king in place of his father. He changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, where he died {sham: that place}.
35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; however, he assessed {he'erikh: set tax rate} the land to give the silver at Pharaoh’s word, and he exacted {nagas: forced collection} the silver and the gold from the people of the land, each man according to his valuation, to give to Pharaoh Necho.
36 Jehoiakim {yehoyaqim: Yahweh Uplifts} was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebidah {zevida: Gift Bestower}, daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.
37 And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Moral Judge}, just as all that his fathers had done {avotav: ancestral line}.