2 Kings 23 - The Scriptures 1998

¹ And the sovereign sent, and they gathered all the elders of Yehuḏ

² And the sovereign went up to the House of יהוה  with all the men of Yehuḏ

³ And the sovereign stood by the column and made a covenant before יהוה, to follow יהוה  and to guard His commands and His witnesses and His laws, with all his heart and all his being, to establish the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

⁴ Then the sovereign commanded Ḥ

⁵ And he put down the black-robed priests whom the sovereigns of Yehuḏ

⁶ And he brought out the Ashĕ

⁷ And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were in the House of יהוה, where the women wove tapestries for the Ashĕ

⁸ And he brought all the priests from the cities of Yehuḏ

⁹ However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of יהוה  in Yerushalayim, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

¹⁰ And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no man could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Moleḵ

¹¹ And he did away with the horses that the sovereigns of Yehuḏ

¹² And the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Aḥ

¹³ And the sovereign defiled the high places that were before Yerushalayim, which were on the right hand of the Mountain of Destruction, which Shelomoh sovereign of Yisra’ĕ

¹⁴ And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Ashĕ

¹⁵ And also the altar that was at Bĕ

¹⁶ Then Yoshiyahu turned, and saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of יהוה  which the man of Elohim proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

¹⁷ And he said, “What tombstone is this that I see?” And the men of the city said to him, “It is the tomb of the man of Elohim who came from Yehuḏ

¹⁸ And he said, “Let him alone, let no one move his bones.” So they left his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Shomeron.

¹⁹ And Yoshiyahu also took away all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Shomeron, which the sovereigns of Yisra’ĕ

²⁰ And he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them, and went back to Yerushalayim.

²¹ And the sovereign commanded all the people, saying, “Prepare the Passover to יהוה  your Elohim, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

²² For such a Passover had not been prepared since the days of the rulers who ruled Yisra’ĕ

²³ but in the eighteenth year of Sovereign Yoshiyahu this Passover was prepared before יהוה  in Yerushalayim.

²⁴ And also, Yoshiyahu put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, and the household mighty ones and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Yehuḏ

²⁵ And before him there was no sovereign like him, who turned back to יהוה  with all his heart, and with all his being, and with all his might, according to all the Torah of Mosheh; and after him none rose up like him.

²⁶ However, יהוה  did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His wrath burned against Yehuḏ

²⁷ And יהוה  said, “Even Yehuḏ

²⁸ And the rest of the acts of Yoshiyahu, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the sovereigns of Yehuḏ

²⁹ In his days Pharaoh Neḵ

³⁰ And his servants conveyed his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Yerushalayim, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Yeho’aḥ

³¹ Yeho’aḥ

³² And he did evil in the eyes of יהוה, according to all that his fathers did.

³³ And Pharaoh Neḵ

³⁴ And Pharaoh Neḵ

³⁵ And Yehoyaqim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh. Only, he taxed the land to give silver according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neḵ

³⁶ Yehoyaqim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Yerushalayim. And his mother’s name was Zeḇ

³⁷ And he did evil in the eyes of יהוה, according to all that his fathers did.