1And King Josiah summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2And he went into the Temple of the LORD, with the priests, the prophets, the people of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, both small and great; and Josiah read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the Temple of the LORD. 3Then Josiah stood by the pillar, and renewed their covenant in the presence of the LORD - to follow the LORD, and keep His commandments, His decrees, and His statutes with all their heart and soul, to confirm the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant pledge.

4And King Josiah commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the Temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the idol (the goddess Asherah), and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel, (where Israel’s idolatry had its start). 5And he got rid of the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and throughout Jerusalem; as well as those who burned incense to Baal, the sun, moon, the planets, and to all the host of heaven. 6And Josiah took the idol (Asherah) from the Temple of the LORD, and out of Jerusalem, and burned it at the brook Kidron, then ground its ashes to powder, and threw the powder on the graves of the common people. 7And he tore down the houses of the sodomites that were by the Temple of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the idol. 8And Josiah removed all the idolatrous priests from the cities of Judah, and desecrated, from Geba to Beersheba (from north to south), those high places where the priests had burned incense, and he broke down the towers of the gateways at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were to the left as you enter the city gate. 9And while the priests of the high places were not allowed to serve at the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they were allowed to eat the unleavened bread with the other priests. 10And Josiah also desecrated and destroyed the Topheth (burning place), which was in the valley of the descendants of Hinnom, so that no man might make his son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech. 11And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to worship the sun, from the entrance of the Temple of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech, the chamberlain, which was in the annex; and he burned the chariots dedicated to the sun. 12And Josiah tore down the altars that were dedicated to the host of stars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made; and smashed the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the Temple of the LORD, and threw the dust of them into the brook, Kidron. 13And Josiah also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the right (south) side of the mount of corruption, which Solomon had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. 14And he smashed to pieces the cultic memorial pillars, cut down the idols, and filled their places with the bones of men.

15And Josiah demolished the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam I, son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made, and burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the idol Ashtoreth. 16And as Josiah turned around, he noticed the tombs that were there in the mount, and he had them remove the bones from the tombs, and burned those bones upon the altar to pollute it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God had proclaimed by naming Josiah before he was born.(1 Kings 13:2) 17Then Josiah asked, “What is that marker I see?” And the men of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God, who came from Judah, and prophesied these very things that you have just done to the altar of Bethel.” 18And Josiah said, “Let him alone; do not disturb his bones.” And so, they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

19Josiah removed all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, and did to those shrines what he had done in Bethel. 20And he killed all the priests of the high places, and burned men's bones upon their altars to defile them, and then returned to Jerusalem.

21And Josiah issued this order to all the people: “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.” 22Never was there such a Passover held, in the days of the judges who judged Israel, or of the kings of Israel, or those of Judah, 23Like this Passover, that was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of King Josiah.

24Josiah also got rid of the mediums, wizards, images, idols, and all the abominations that had been in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, to fulfill the requirements of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah, the priest, found in the Temple of the LORD. 25And there no king like him before Josiah, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, soul, and might, obeying all the law of Moses; nor did any arise like him afterward.

26Still, the LORD did not turn from the heat of His great wrath, which had been kindled against Judah, by all that Manasseh had done to provoke Him. 27And the LORD said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, as I have removed Israel, and will forsake this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the Temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”

28Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, the reforms he implemented, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

29During his reign, Pharaoh-neco, king of Egypt, went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria; and King Josiah went out to oppose him; and he (Pharaoh-neco) faced and killed Josiah, when they met at Megiddo. 30And Josiah’s servants brought his body back from Megiddo to Jerusalem in a chariot and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took his son, Jehoahaz, and anointed and made him king in place of his father.

31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32And Jehoahaz did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, as many of his forefathers had done. 33And Pharaoh-neco put Jehoahaz in chains at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, so that he could not reign in Jerusalem; and imposed a levy of a hundred talents (about 6,500 pounds) of silver, and a talent (about 66 pounds) of gold upon Judah. 34And Pharaoh-neco made Eliakim, another son of Josiah, king instead of Jehoahaz and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, where he died. 35And Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold tribute to Pharaoh; but he imposed heavy taxes to raise the money demanded by Pharaoh, exacting silver and gold from the people of the land, from each according to his valuation, to pay Pharaoh-neco.

36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37And he also did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, as many of his forefathers had done.