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This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.
23 Then King Yoshiyyah summoned all the elders of Yerushalem and across Yehudah, 2 and he went to the temple, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalem and from all across Yehudah went with him, along with the priests and prophets, and all the people from the most to the least important. Then he read to them every word on the scroll of the agreement that had been found in Yahweh’s residence. 3 Then the king stood by the pillar and he made a commitment in front of Yahweh to follow Yahweh and to obey his commands and testimonies and statutes with all sincerity, and with every desire to respect the words of that agreement that had been written on that scroll. All the people were also included in that commitment.
4 Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiyyah and the other priests, and the temple guards to bring out all the utensils that were made for Baal and Asherah and for all the constellations, and he burnt them outside Yerushalem in the Kidron countryside, and carried their ashes to Beyt-El. 5 He got rid of the pagan priests that the kings of Yehudah had appointed to burn incense in the hilltop shrines around Yerushalem and across the rest of Yehudah, and the ones who burnt incense to Baal, and to the sun and moon and to the planets and constellations. 6 He got the Asherah pole out from Yahweh’s temple and burnt it in the Kidron valley outside Yerushalem, then he pounded the ashes to dust and threw it over people’s graves. 7 He demolished the cubicles of the male temple prostitutes that were inside Yahweh’s temple where the women were weaving Asherah coverings.[fn] 8 He brought all the priests to Yerushalem from the cities of Yehudah, and he desecrated the hilltop shrines where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beer-Sheva. He demolished the hilltop shrines that Yehoshua (a city official) had built near the city gate (on the left of the gate as you entered the city). 9 However those priests from those hilltop shrines weren’t allowed to serve at the altar in Yerushalem, but they were allowed to eat unleavened bread like the other priests.
10 Yoshiyyah also desecrated the Tofet, which was in the Ben-Hinnom valley, so that the people couldn’t sacrifice their children to Molek. 11 The horses that the kings of Yehudah had offered to the sun, he prevented from approaching the hall of the official Natan-Melek that was in the courtyards of Yahweh’s temple, and he set fire to the chariots of the sun. 12 Then the king tore down the altars that were on the roof in Ahaz’s upper chamber that the kings of Yehudah made, and the altars that Menashsheh made in the two courts of Yahweh’s temple and he threw the rubble into the Kidron valley. 13 The king desecrated the hilltop shrines that faced Yerushalem—they were south of the ‘Mount of Destruction’ (the Mount of Olives). King Shelomoh had built shrines for Ashtarot (the disgusting god of the Sidonians) and for Kemosh (the disgusting god of Moab) and for Molek (the disgusting god of the Ammonites). 14 He also smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles, then he desecrated those places by filling them with human bones.
15 He also demolished the altar that was in Beyt-El—the hilltop shrine that Nebat’s son Yarave’am had made when he’d caused Yisrael to sin. He demolished both that altar and the hilltop shrine, then he burnt the shrine. He crushed everything to dust, and he burnt the Asherah pole. 16 As Yoshiyyah turned around, he noticed some graves that were there on the hillside, so he had some bones removed from the graves, and he burnt them on the altar to desecrate it. This fulfilled what Yahweh had said through the man of God who’d proclaimed these things.[ref] 17 Yoshiyyah turned again and asked, “Whose tomb is that?”
“It’s the prophet’s tomb,” the people of Beyt-El replied, “The one who came from Yehudah and predicted that what you just did to that altar would happen.” 18 “Don’t disturb it then,” the king ordered. “Don’t let anyone remove his bones.”
So they left his bones alone, along with the bones of the other prophet who came from Shomron. 19 So King Yoshiyyah removed all the hilltop shrines that the Israeli kings had made in the cities of Shomron, provoking Yahweh’s anger. The king destroyed them just like he’d done to the ones in Beyt-El. 20 He executed all the priests from those hilltop shrines on the altars there, and then he burnt human bones on them to desecrate them. Then he returned to Yerushalem.
23:7 It’s not exactly clear what these woven objects were, or how or where they were used.
3 In the eighth year of his reign while he was still a teenager, he began to learn more about the god of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year, he began to remove the hilltop shrines from Yerushalem and across Yehudah, as well as the Asherah poles, and the idols and metal images. 4 He watched while they tore down the altars for the Baals and cut down the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles and the idols and metal images, then crushed them to powder which he scattered over the graves of those who’d sacrificed to them.[ref] 5 He burnt the bones of those priests on their altars, and so he purified Yerushalem and all Yehudah,[ref] 6 as well as in the cities in the tribes of Menashsheh, Efrayim, Shimeon, and as far north as Naftali, including in the ruins around them. 7 He tore down the altars and the Asherah poles, ground the idols into pieces, and cut down the incense altars in all Yisrael before returning to Yerushalem.
8 In his eighteenth year as king, in order to purify the land and the temple, he sent Atsalyah’s son Shafan, Maaseyah the city official, and Yoahaz’s son Yoah the secretary, to repair the residence of his god Yahweh. 9 They went to Hilkiyah the high priest and handed over the funds that had been donated for God’s house, which had been collected by the Levites as doorkeepers—the money was from the tribes of Menashsheh, Efrayim, and other places in the northern kingdom of Yisrael, as well as from Yerushalem’s inhabitants and across all of Yehudah and Benyamin. 10 The priests then paid the workers who’d been assigned to work in Yahweh’s temple to repair and strengthen it. 11 They also paid the carpenters and builders to buy cut stone and timber for the beams and braces which Yehudah’s kings had allowed to deteriorate, 12 and the workers did their work faithfully. Their supervisors were Yahat and Ovadyah (Levites descended from Merari), as well as Zekaryah and Meshullam (descendants of Levi’s son Kohat), and all the Levites who were good on their musical instruments. 13 They also supervised the porters and those working on various other tasks. Some of the Levites were secretaries, officials, and guards.
14 When they were bringing the money out of the temple, Hilkiyah the high priest found a scroll containing Yahweh’s instructions that had been given via Mosheh (Moses). 15 Hilkiyah informed the scribe Shafan that he had found a Torah scroll in the temple, and he gave him the scroll. 16 Shafan took the scroll with him to the king and reported to him, “Your servants are doing everything they were assigned to do. 17 They’ve taken the cash that was in Yahweh’s residence, and passed it on to the supervisors of the workers.” 18 Then Shafan told the king, “I’ve brought a scroll that the priest Hilkiyah gave me,” and then he started reading it out to the king.
19 When the king heard the words with God’s instructions, he tore his clothes in grief. 20 Then he commanded Hilkiyah, Shafan’s son Ahikam, Mikah’s son Avdon, Shafan himself, and the king’s special advisor Asayah, 21 “Go and ask Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of those in Yisrael and Yehudah, what he wants us to do with respect to the instructions on the scroll that has just been found, because it seems that Yahweh will be very angry at us because our ancestors haven’t followed all of Yahweh’s instructions as they’re written on that scroll.”
22 So Hilkiyah and the others went to Yerushalem’s Second District to the prophetess Huldah (wife of Shallum, son of Tokahat, son of Hasrah who took care of the temple robes). They passed on the king’s question 23 and she replied, “Yisrael’s god Yahweh says to tell the king: 24 Yahweh says, ‘Listen, I’m going to bring disaster on this place and its inhabitants as per all the curses written on that scroll that was read to Yehudah’s king 25 because they’ve abandoned me and offered incense to other gods. That’s made me angry and so my rage will be poured out on this place, and it can’t be prevented.’ 26 However, Yehudah’s king sent you all to ask for Yahweh’s direction, so tell him, ‘Yisrael’s god Yahweh says that after hearing the words of the scroll, 27 because you were sincere and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words about this place and its inhabitants. Yes, Yahweh declares that you’ve humbled yourself before me and torn your clothes, and wept in front of me, and I’ve personally heard you. 28 So listen, I will allow you to die and be buried in peace and so your eyes won’t see the disaster that I’ll send to this place and its inhabitants.’ ”
So they took that response back to the king.
29 Then the king summoned all the elders from Yerushalem and from across Yehudah 30 and they all walked up to the temple with the inhabitants of Yerushalem and all Yehudah, and the priests and the Levites, and all the people irrespective of their standing in the community. Then the king read everything out to them that was on the Torah scroll that had been found in the temple. 31 Then the king stood at his normal place and made an agreement with Yahweh: to obey Yahweh and follow his instructions and his regulations and statutes, sincerely and with all his energy—doing what was in the joint understanding that had been written on the scroll. 32 Then he had everyone from Yerushalem and Benyamin take a stand in agreement to it, and so Yerushalem’s inhabitants renewed their agreement with the god of their ancestors. 33 So King Yoshiyah removed all the disgusting idols from all the Yisraeli regions, and he made everyone in Yisrael serve their god Yahweh—during his lifetime they never turned away from Yahweh, the god of their ancestors.
1Ki 13:2-3:
2 The prophet called out against the altar with Yahweh’s message: “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says this: Listen, one of David’s descendants will have a son who’ll be named Yoshiyyah (Josiah), and he’ll sacrifice the priests from the hill temples on you—the ones who are burning incense on you. Yes, human bones will be burnt on you.”[ref] 3 Then he offered them evidence that what he said came from Yahweh, “Listen, that altar will be broken into pieces, and the ashes in it will spill all over the ground.”
2Ki 21:3:
3 In fact he went backwards from his father and rebuilt the hilltop shrines that Hizkiyah had destroyed, and he made altars for Baal, and he made an Asherah pole, just like Yisrael’s King Ahab had, and he worshipped the constellations and followed astrology.
2Ch 33:3:
3 The hilltop shrines that his father Hizkiyah had torn down, he turned around and rebuilt them and erected altars to the Baals, and he made Asherot poles, and he bowed down to all the stars in the sky and served them.
1Ki 13:2:
2 The prophet called out against the altar with Yahweh’s message: “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says this: Listen, one of David’s descendants will have a son who’ll be named Yoshiyyah (Josiah), and he’ll sacrifice the priests from the hill temples on you—the ones who are burning incense on you. Yes, human bones will be burnt on you.”[ref]