KJ3 Literal Translation
2 Kings 23
Josiah causes the Book of the Law to be read in a solemn assembly. He renews the covenant of Jehovah. He destroys idolatry. He keeps a most solemn passover. Josiah is killed at Megiddo.
1And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
2And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and every man of Judah, and all the ones living in Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from small to great; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of Jehovah.
3And the king stood by the pillar, and made the covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to lift up the words of this covenant that were written in this Book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
4And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring out from the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens. And he burned them at the outside of Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and bore their ashes to Beth-el.
5And he caused to cease the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had given place to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem, and those burning incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to constellations, and to all the host of the heavens.
6And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah to the outside of Jerusalem, to the torrent Kidron, and burned it at the torrent Kidron, and pulverized it to powder, and threw the powder of it on the graves of the sons of the people.
7And he broke down the houses of the male prostitutes that were in the house of Jehovah, there where the women were weaving houses of the Asherah.
8And he brought in all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places there where the priests burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the ruler of the city, which were on a man's left at the gate of the city.
9However the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.
10And he defiled Topheth in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, so that no man could cause his son and his daughter to pass through the fire of Molech.
11And he caused to cease the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Jehovah, by the room of Nathan-melech the eunuch, that was in the Parbor. And he burned with fire the chariots of the sun.
12And the altars that were on the top of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, the king broke down, and ran from there and threw the dust of them into the torrent Kidron.
13And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the idol of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the idol of the Moabites, and for Milcom the disgusting idol of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.
14And he shattered the pillars, and cut down the Asherahs, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15And also the altar that was in Beth-el, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat had made by which he made Israel to sin, both that altar and the high place he broke down, and burned the high place; he pulverized it into powder, and burned the Asherah.
16And Josiah turned and saw the graves that were there in the mount, and sent and took the bones out of the graves and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the Word of Jehovah that the man of God had proclaimed, who had proclaimed these things.
17And he said, What is this monument that I see? And the men of the city said to him, The grave of the man of God who came from Judah and cried these things that you have done concerning the altar of Beth-el.
18And he said, Let him alone, let no one touch his bones. And they let his bones escape with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
19And also all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria, that the kings of Israel had made to provoke Jehovah to anger, Josiah took away, and he did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.
20And he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there by the altars, and burned the bones of man upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
21And the king commanded all the people, saying, Perform a Passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.
22Surely none has been performed like this Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel even to all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah;
23but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was performed to Jehovah in Jerusalem.
24And also the mediums and the spirit-knowers and the family gods, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put away in order to fulfill the words of the Law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of Jehovah.
25And there was no king before him like him, who turned to Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; and after him none rose up like him.
26However, Jehovah did not turn away from the fury of His great anger, with which His anger glowed against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.
27And Jehovah said, I will also turn away Judah from My face, as I turned away Israel, and I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I have said, My name shall be there.
28And the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Judah?
29In his days Pharaoh-necho the king of Egypt came up against the king of Assyria by the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went out to meet him, and he caused him to die in Megiddo, when he saw him.
30And his servants made him ride, he having died, from Megiddo, and bore him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his own grave. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him, and made him reign in place of his father.
31Jehoahaz was a son of twenty-three years when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32And he did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah according to all that his fathers did.
33And Pharaoh-necho bound him in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and he put a fine on the land, a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34And Pharaoh-necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah to reign instead of Josiah his father, and turned his name into Jehoiakim; and he took away Jehoahaz, and he came to Egypt and died there.
35And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the silver by the mouth of Pharaoh. From each man, according to his evaluation, he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh-necho.
36Jehoiakim was a son of twenty-five years when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years; and the name of his mother was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
37And he did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah according to all that his fathers did.
Read 2 Kings 23 in the interactive reader with the Hebrew and Greek side by side, audio narration, and the TWOT dictionary.
Open in the reader