2 Kings 18:4

18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ¹  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ²  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ³ 

2 Kings 23:24

23:24 Josiah also got rid of ⁴  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ⁵  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ⁶  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ⁷  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

[18:4]  ¹ tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.

[18:4]  ² tn Heb “until those days.”

[18:4]  ³ tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”

[23:24]  ⁴ tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.

[23:24]  ⁵ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.

[23:24]  ⁶ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.

[23:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”