1. Josiah was eight years old when he became king and reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.
2. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or the left.
3. In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images.
4. Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he chopped down the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
5. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. So he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.