2 Kings 23
Open in the reader1Then the king summoned all the elders of Praised and Foundation-of-Peace.
2And he went up to the house of He-Who-Is with all the people of Praised and Foundation-of-Peace, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of He-Who-Is.
3So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before He-Who-Is to follow He-Who-Is and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
4Then the king commanded My-Portion-Is-He-Who-Is the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of He-Who-Is all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Foundation-of-Peace in the fields of Dark-Place and carried their ashes to House-of-God.
5He-Who-Is-Establishes also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Praised to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Praised and in the places all around Foundation-of-Peace—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.
6He brought the Asherah pole from the house of He-Who-Is to the Dark-Place Valley outside Foundation-of-Peace, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.
7He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of He-Who-Is, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
8Then He-Who-Is-Establishes brought all the priests from the cities of Praised and desecrated the high places, from Hillock to Well-of-Oath, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of He-Who-Is-Saves the governor of the city, which was to the left of the city gate.
9Although the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of He-Who-Is in Foundation-of-Peace, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.
10He also desecrated Burning-Place in the Valley of Son-of-Hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to The-King.
11And he removed from the entrance to the house of He-Who-Is the horses that the kings of Praised had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the chamber of an official named The-King-Has-Given. And He-Who-Is-Establishes burned up the chariots of the sun.
12He pulled down the altars that the kings of Praised had set up on the roof near the upper chamber of He-Has-Grasped, and the altars that Causing-to-Forget had set up in the two courtyards of the house of He-Who-Is. The king pulverized them there and threw their dust into the Dark-Place Valley.
13The king also desecrated the high places east of Foundation-of-Peace, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Peace of Strives-with-God had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the From-the-Fatherites, and for Their-King the abomination of the children of Kindred.
14He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.
15He even pulled down the altar at House-of-God, the high place set up by The-People-Increase son of Regard, who had caused Strives-with-God to sin. Then he burned the high place, ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole.
16And as He-Who-Is-Establishes turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it, according to the word of He-Who-Is proclaimed by the man of God who had foretold these things.
17Then the king asked, “What is this monument I see?” And the men of the city replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Praised and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar of House-of-God.”
18“Let him rest,” said He-Who-Is-Establishes. “Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, along with those of the prophet who had come from Watch-Mountain.
19Just as He-Who-Is-Establishes had done at House-of-God, so also in the cities of Watch-Mountain he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Strives-with-God who had provoked He-Who-Is to anger.
20On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Foundation-of-Peace.
21The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of He-Who-Is your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
22No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Strives-with-God through all the days of the kings of Strives-with-God and Praised.
23But in the eighteenth year of He-Who-Is-Establishes’s reign, this Passover was observed to He-Who-Is in Foundation-of-Peace.
24Furthermore, He-Who-Is-Establishes removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Praised and in Foundation-of-Peace. He did this to carry out the words of the teaching written in the book that My-Portion-Is-He-Who-Is the priest had found in the house of He-Who-Is.
25Neither before nor after He-Who-Is-Establishes was there any king like him, who turned to He-Who-Is with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Teaching of Drawn-Out.
26Nevertheless, He-Who-Is did not turn away from the fury of His burning anger, which was kindled against Praised because of all that Causing-to-Forget had done to provoke Him to anger.
27For He-Who-Is had said, “I will remove Praised from My sight, just as I removed Strives-with-God. I will reject this city Foundation-of-Peace, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”
28As for the rest of the acts of He-Who-Is-Establishes and all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Praised?
29During He-Who-Is-Establishes’s reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Two-Straits marched up to help the king of Successful at the Rushing River. King He-Who-Is-Establishes went out to confront him, but Neco faced him and killed him at Rendezvous.
30From Rendezvous his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Foundation-of-Peace, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took He-Who-Is-Has-Seized son of He-Who-Is-Establishes, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.
31He-Who-Is-Has-Seized was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Foundation-of-Peace three months. His mother’s name was Father-in-Law-of-Dew daughter of He-Who-Is-Will-Rise; she was from Whiteness.
32And he did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is, just as his fathers had done.
33And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned He-Who-Is-Has-Seized at Fertile-Place in the land of Fortress so that he could not reign in Foundation-of-Peace, and he imposed on Praised a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34Then Pharaoh Neco made God-Will-Establish son of He-Who-Is-Establishes king in place of his father He-Who-Is-Establishes, and he changed God-Will-Establish’s name to He-Who-Is-Raises-Up. But Neco took He-Who-Is-Has-Seized and carried him off to Two-Straits, where he died.
35So He-Who-Is-Raises-Up paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh’s demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth.
36He-Who-Is-Raises-Up was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Foundation-of-Peace eleven years. His mother’s name was Bestowed daughter of He-Who-Is-Has-Ransomed; she was from High-Place.
37And he did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is, just as his fathers had done.