2 Kings

And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

1King Josiah sent out a message. All the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem came to him.

2And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.

2The king went up to the LORD's house, the temple. Everyone went with him. The men of Judah came, and all who lived in Jerusalem. The priests came, and the prophets, who were men who told people what God said. Every person came, young and old, important and not. The king read out loud the whole book that had been found in the temple. It held the words of God's agreement with his people.

3And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

3The king stood by the pillar. He made a promise to the LORD in front of everyone. He would follow the LORD and keep all his commands and rules. He would do this with his whole heart and his whole self. He promised to do everything written in the book. All the people promised the same thing.

4And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

4The king gave an order to Hilkiah, the chief priest. He also spoke to the priests who helped him and to the men who guarded the doors. He told them to carry out of the temple every object made for false gods. These were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for the sun, moon, and stars. He burned them outside the city in the fields of Kidron. Then he had the ashes taken to the town of Bethel.

NoteWhere the KJV says "grove," it means an Asherah pole. That was a wooden post set up to honor a goddess named Asherah. "All the host of heaven" means the sun, the moon, and the stars.

5And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

5Josiah got rid of the priests who served false gods. Earlier kings of Judah had picked them. They burned sweet-smelling incense at worship spots on hills. They did this in the towns of Judah and around Jerusalem. Some of them burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, and to the stars.

6And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.

6He took the Asherah pole out of the LORD's house. He carried it outside the city to the Kidron valley. There he burned it and ground it into fine dust. Then he threw the dust on the graves of ordinary people.

7And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

7He tore down the rooms next to the LORD's house where men sold their bodies as part of false worship. Women had woven cloth there for the goddess Asherah.

8And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.

8Josiah brought all the priests in from the towns of Judah. He ruined the hilltop worship spots where those priests had burned incense. He did this everywhere, from the town of Geba to the town of Beersheba. He also tore down the altars by the gate of Joshua, the ruler of the city. That gate stood at the left side of the city entrance.

9Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

9Those hilltop priests were not allowed to serve at the LORD's altar in Jerusalem. But they did eat flat bread made without yeast, along with the other priests.

10And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

10He also ruined the place called Topheth, in the valley of Ben-hinnom. Now no one could burn his son or daughter there as a gift to the god Molech.

11And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

11Kings of Judah had set apart horses to honor the sun. They stood near the entrance to the LORD's house, by the room of an official named Nathan-melech. Josiah took the horses away. He burned up the chariots that were used to honor the sun.

12And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

12Kings of Judah had built altars on the roof by the upper room of Ahaz. Manasseh had built altars in the two courtyards of the LORD's house. King Josiah pulled all of them down. He smashed them and threw the pieces into the Kidron valley.

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 builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

13There were hilltop worship spots east of Jerusalem, south of the hill called the Mount of Corruption. King Solomon had built them long ago for three false gods. He built one for Ashtoreth, the hated god of the Sidonians. He built one for Chemosh, the hated god of Moab. He built one for Milcom, the hated god of Ammon. King Josiah ruined all of them.

14And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

14He smashed the stone pillars to pieces. He cut down the Asherah poles. Then he covered those places with human bones.

15Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.

15There was an altar at Bethel too. Jeroboam son of Nebat had built it, and he had led Israel into sin. Josiah pulled down that altar and the worship spot with it. He burned the worship spot and ground it into fine dust. He burned the Asherah pole as well.

16And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

16Then Josiah turned and saw tombs on the hillside. He sent men to take the bones out of them. He burned the bones on the altar to make it unfit to use. This is just what a man of God had said would happen long before.

17Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.

17The king asked, "What is that stone marker I see?" The men of the city said, "That is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah. He said long ago that you would do these things to the altar at Bethel."

18And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

18Josiah said, "Leave him alone. No one is to touch his bones." So they left his bones alone, and also the bones of the prophet from Samaria who was buried with him.

19And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

19Kings of Israel had built shrines at hilltop worship spots in the towns of Samaria. Those shrines had made the LORD angry. Josiah took them all away. He did to them just what he had done at Bethel.

20And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.

20He killed all the priests of those hilltop spots on their own altars. He burned human bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

21And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.

21The king gave an order to all the people. He said, "Hold the Passover meal for the LORD your God. Do it the way the book of the agreement says."

22Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;

22No Passover like this had been held for a very long time. Not since the days of the judges, the leaders who ruled Israel before there were kings. None of the kings of Israel or Judah had held one like it.

23But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

23But now, in the eighteenth year that Josiah was king, this Passover was held for the LORD in Jerusalem.

24Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

24Josiah also got rid of people who claimed to speak with the dead or tell the future. He got rid of the little house gods and the idols. He removed every hated thing found in Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to obey the words written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the LORD's house.

Note"Workers with familiar spirits" and "wizards" means people who said they could talk with the dead or tell the future.

25And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

25There was never a king like Josiah before him. He turned to the LORD with his whole heart, his whole self, and all his strength. He followed everything in the law of Moses. And no king like him came after him either.

26Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.

26Even so, the LORD did not turn away from his great anger. He was still angry with Judah because of all the wrong things Manasseh had done.

27And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

27The LORD had said, "I will push Judah away from me, just as I pushed Israel away. I will turn away from Jerusalem, the city I chose. I will turn away from the temple, where I said my name would be."

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

28The other things Josiah did are written down in another book. It is the record book of the kings of Judah.

29In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

29In Josiah's time, Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, marched north to the Euphrates River. He went to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah went out to stop him. Neco met him at Megiddo and killed him there.

30And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.

30Josiah's servants carried his body from Megiddo in a chariot. They brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land chose his son Jehoahaz. They poured oil on him to show he was the new king. He took his father's place.

31Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for only three months. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah, from the town of Libnah.

32And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

32He did what the LORD said was evil, just as his family before him had done.

33And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

33Pharaoh Neco locked Jehoahaz up at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, so he could not rule in Jerusalem. Neco also made the land pay him a hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

NoteA talent was a weight, about 75 pounds. A hundred talents of silver was a huge amount of money.

34And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.

34Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim, another son of Josiah, king in his father's place. He changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, and Jehoahaz died there.

35And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.

35Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh. To get it, he made the people of the land pay taxes. Each person paid based on how much he owned. All of it went to Pharaoh Neco.

36Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Zebidah, daughter of Pedaiah, from the town of Rumah.

37And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

37He did what the LORD said was evil, just as his family before him had done.