World English Bible
- The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
- The king went up to the LORD’s house, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him—with the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the LORD’s house.
- The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people agreed to the covenant.
- The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the LORD’s temple all the vessels that were made for Baal, for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky; and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
- 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 in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.
- He brought out the Asherah from the LORD’s house, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people.
- He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the LORD’s house, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
- 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 he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.
- Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn’t come up to the LORD’s altar in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.
- 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.
- He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the LORD’s house, by the room of Nathan Melech the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
- The king broke down the altars that were on the roof 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 LORD’s house, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.
- The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon.
- He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.
- Moreover the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.
- As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in 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 LORD’s word which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
- Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
- He said, “Let him be! Let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.
- 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.
- He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
- The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.”
- Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
- but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.
- Moreover, Josiah removed those who had familiar spirits, the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the LORD’s house.
- There was no king like him before him, who 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; and there was none like him who arose after him.
- Notwithstanding, the LORD didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.
- The LORD said, “I will also remove Judah out of my sight, as I have removed Israel; and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
- Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
- In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him, but Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him.
- His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
- Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
- He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done.
- Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
- Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim; but he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there.
- 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, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh.
- Jehoiakim 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.
- He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done.
Daily Devotional
2 Kings 23 – “When a Heart Burns, Altars Fall”
“Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.” (2 Kings 23 : 25, New International Version)
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OVERVIEW
Chapter 23 is the crescendo of Josiah’s revival. What began yesterday (ch. 22) with a dusty scroll in a neglected Temple room now becomes a nationwide movement. Altars crumble, priests are defrocked, bones are burned, and the Passover blazes again for the first time in generations. Yet the chapter ends in sorrow: Judah’s brightest king falls, and the shadow of exile remains. The passage therefore sings in two keys—triumph and tragedy—like a minor-chord hymn that lifts us toward hope while warning us of judgment.
We will listen in six short movements:
Along the path we will pause for history, archaeology, word-study, and theological reflection.
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1. Covenant Renewal – “All the People, from the Least to the Greatest”
(vv. 1-3)
Josiah reads the newly found “Book of the Covenant” aloud, then
publicly vows to obey it. The scene echoes Deuteronomy 31 : 9-13 where
Moses commands that the Law be read every seventh year “so that their
children… will learn to fear the Lord.” Notice the three verbs that
describe Josiah’s response in Hebrew: • qārāʾ – he “called
together”
• qārāʾ – he “read”
• kārat – he “cut/made” a covenant
“Cut” (kārat) evokes the ancient ritual of slicing animals to seal an agreement (cf. Genesis 15). In other words, the king does not merely sign a new policy; he binds himself with sacrificial seriousness.
Cross-references
• Joshua 24 : 22-27 – Joshua’s own covenant renewal at Shechem
• Romans 12 : 1-2 – presenting our bodies as living sacrifices
Spiritual reflection
Every awakening begins with hearing. We cannot obey what we have not
first absorbed. John Wesley called Scripture “the means of grace by
which God’s words sink into the soul.” The revival in 2 Kings 23 did not
start with better music, charismatic speakers, or fresh programs, but
with a plain public reading of the Word.
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2. A Ruthless Purge – “He Smashed… He Burned… He Ground to Powder” (vv.
4-20)
Josiah removes idols from the Temple, crushes the high-place shrines, dethrones the “priests of the pagan gods,” tears down the houses of the qedēšîm (male cult-prostitutes), defiles Topheth in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom (Hebrew gey-hinnom—later “Gehenna”), breaks horses dedicated to the sun, and even journeys north to Bethel to desecrate Jeroboam’s golden-calf altar.
Historical and archaeological notes
• Tel Arad’s temple stones: Excavators found a dismantled altar whose
stones had been deliberately buried; many scholars date its destruction
to Josiah’s reforms.
• Valley of Ben-Hinnom: Two tiny silver scrolls found at Ketef Hinnom
just outside Jerusalem bear the priestly blessing from Numbers 6. They
may be eighth-century b.c., reminding us that true faith and perverse
practices co-existed in that very valley.
• Bethel: Jeroboam’s site has been located (modern Beitin). Excavated
bones in ash layers support a memory of cultic destruction.
Hebrew window
Verse 10 speaks of “burning his son or daughter in the fire to Molek.”
The phrase “to pass through (ʿābar) the fire” may imply both literal
immolation and an ordeal ritual. Josiah’s defilement of Topheth is a
prophetic act that says, “This site is permanently unfit for
worship.”
Theological thread
Holiness is not just addition (building the right altars) but
subtraction (tearing down the wrong ones). Augustine wrote, “We cannot
live for God while our hearts are farms for idols.” Calvin added that
the human heart is “a perpetual factory of idols”; therefore,
reformation must be ongoing, not one-time.
Questions for the heart
• What entrenched “high place” in my life still competes for
affection—career glory, digital distraction, secret grudges?
• How might I, like Josiah, act decisively rather than politely toward
it?
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3. Passover Restored – “No Such Passover Had Been Observed… Since the
Days of the Judges” (vv. 21-23)
The rediscovery of Torah leads straight to the rediscovery of the Lamb. Passover realigns Israel’s calendar, imagination, and national story around deliverance by blood.
Christ-centred lens
Paul links Passover to Christ: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been
sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5 : 7). Thus Josiah’s feast foreshadows the
Cross—cleansing precedes communion.
Liturgical sidebar
Verse 22’s hyperbolic language (“since the days of the judges”) is a
Hebraic way of saying “We haven’t done this right for as long as anyone
can recall.” The writer uses overstatement to shake readers awake.
Suggested hymn
“Nothing but the Blood” (Robert Lowry, 1876). Simple words, same logic:
purity flows not from reform alone but from redeeming blood.
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4. Sweeping Finishing Touches – “Neither Household Gods nor Idolatrous
Images” (vv. 24-27)
Josiah presses on—removing mediums, spiritists, teraphim (small household gods), and shāqētzîm (“abominations”). Yet even after all this the divine verdict remains: judgment is coming, for Manasseh’s sins have filled the cup (vv. 26-27).
Tension in the text
Why does God not turn from fierce anger this time, as He did for Nineveh
in Jonah 3? Deuteronomistic theology stresses both repentance and
accumulated guilt. God hears individual cries (22 : 18-20) but also
governs history, and Judah’s collective corruption has run its course.
As chronicler Stephen Dempster notes, “Mercy delays exile but does not
erase consequences.”
Hope hinted
The phrase “I will cast off Jerusalem” uses the same verb (māsas) as 2
Kings 17 : 20 for Israel’s fall. Yet the same God later “had compassion”
(raham) in exile (2 Kings 25 : 27-30). Judgment is never God’s last
word.
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5. The Death of Josiah – “An Arrow from an Unlikely Bow” (vv. 28-30)
Pharaoh Neco of Egypt marches to aid Assyria against rising Babylon. Josiah, perhaps misreading geopolitical signs or acting from zeal, confronts Neco at Megiddo and is fatally wounded. For Western readers the shock is severe: the best king since David dies in what looks like a military footnote.
Hidden layers
• Chronicles (2 Chr 35 : 21-22) records Neco claiming a word from God.
Was Josiah ignoring prophetic caution? Augustine saw in Josiah’s death a
reminder that earthly righteousness does not guarantee earthly length of
days.
• Megiddo’s tell holds the famous “Solomon Gate.” The site’s strategic
value made it a crossroads of empires; archaeology has uncovered
stables, fortifications, and a view across the Jezreel, where many
biblical battles raged.
Literary device
The historian dwells longer on Josiah’s reforms than on his death,
suggesting that spiritual legacy outweighs political outcome.
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6. Aftershocks and Application – “Jehoiakim Did Evil…” (vv. 31-37)
Josiah’s sons reverse course. National momentum toward exile resumes. A final question hovers: can any human king fully deliver?
Whole-Bible arc
• 2 Kings 23 points forward to a greater Josiah—Jesus—who cleanses His
Father’s house (John 2 : 13-17) and celebrates Passover as the New
Covenant meal (Luke 22 : 20).
• Jesus too dies young at Passover, yet rises, achieving what Josiah
could only begin.
Personal takeaways
1. Word-saturated worship realigns a community.
2. Idols must be broken, not managed.
3. True renewal remembers the Lamb.
4. Even the best reforms cannot replace the need for the King of
kings.
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CLOSING PRAYER
Holy Father,
You spoke through Moses, burned in Josiah, and bled in Christ.
Read Your Word over us again today.
Expose the high places we still visit in secret.
Give us Josiah’s courage to tear them down,
and Christ’s humility to trust the Passover blood alone.
May our lives, our churches, and our nations
be purified altars where Your praise never ceases.
We ask in the name of Jesus, our greater King.
Amen.