Old Testament

New Testament

2 Kings 23:1-11 The Scriptures 1998 (ISR98)

1. And the sovereign sent, and they gathered all the elders of Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim to him.

2. And the sovereign went up to the House of יהוה with all the men of Yehuḏah, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the House of יהוה.

3. And the sovereign stood by the column and made a covenant before יהוה, to follow יהוה and to guard His commands and His witnesses and His laws, with all his heart and all his being, to establish the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

4. Then the sovereign commanded Ḥilqiyahu the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the Hĕḵal of יהוה all the objects that were made for Ba‛al, and for Ashĕrah, and for all the host of the heavens. And he burned them outside Yerushalayim in the fields of Qiḏron, and took their ashes to Bĕyth Ěl.

5. And he put down the black-robed priests whom the sovereigns of Yehuḏah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Yehuḏah and in the places all around Yerushalayim, and those who burned incense to Ba‛al, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations, and to all the host of the heavens.

6. And he brought out the Ashĕrah from the House of יהוה, to the wadi Qiḏron outside Yerushalayim, and burned it at the wadi Qiḏron and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the sons of the people.

7. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were in the House of יהוה, where the women wove tapestries for the Ashĕrah.

8. And he brought all the priests from the cities of Yehuḏah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geḇa to Be’ĕrsheḇa, and broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Yehoshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate.

9. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of יהוה in Yerushalayim, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

10. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no man could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Moleḵ.

11. And he did away with the horses that the sovereigns of Yehuḏah had given to the sun, at the entrance to the House of יהוה, by the room of Nathan-Meleḵ the eunuch, that were in the court. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

Read complete chapter 2 Kings 23