23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, 1 and the guards 2 to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of 3 Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. 4 The king 5 burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces 6 of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 7 23:5 He eliminated 8 the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices 9 on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices 10 to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)
1 tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.
2 tn Or “doorkeepers.”
3 tn Heb “for.”
4 tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.
7 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
8 tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”
9 tn Or “burn incense.”
10 tn Or “burned incense.”
11 sn This is a derogatory name for the Mount of Olives, involving a wordplay between מָשְׁחָה (mashÿkhah), “anointing,” and מַשְׁחִית (mashÿkhit), “destruction.” See HALOT 644 s.v. מַשְׁחִית and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.