2 Chronicles 34:1

Josiah Institutes Religious Reforms

34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ¹ 

2 Chronicles 34:4-7

34:4 He ordered the altars of the Baals to be torn down, ²  and broke the incense altars that were above them. He smashed the Asherah poles, idols and images, crushed them up and sprinkled the dust over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them. 34:5 He burned the bones of the pagan priests ³  on their altars; he purified Judah and Jerusalem. 34:6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins ⁴  around them, 34:7 he tore down the altars and Asherah poles, demolished the idols, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

[34:1]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[34:4]  ² tn Heb “and they tore down before him the altars of the Baals.”

[34:5]  ³ tn Heb “the priests”; the qualifying adjective “pagan” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:6]  ⁴ tn “In their ruins” is the marginal reading (Qere) of the Hebrew text.