phase: is slain in
battle by the king of Egypt. The short reign of Joachaz, in whose place
Joakim is made king.

23:1. And they brought the king word again what she had said. And he
sent: and all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem were assembled to him.

23:2. And the king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all the men of
Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, the priests, and
the prophets, and all the people, both little and great: and in the
hearing of them all he read all the words of the book of the covenant,
which was found in the house of the Lord.

23:3. And the king stood upon the step: and he made a covenant with the
Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his
testimonies, and his ceremonies, with all their heart, and with all
their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant, which were
written in that book: and the people agreed to the covenant.

The king stood upon the step... That is, his tribune, or tribunal, a
more eminent place, from whence he might be seen and heard by the
people.

23:4. And the king commanded Helcias, the high priest, and the priests
of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to cast out of the temple of
the Lord all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the grove,
and for all the host of heaven: and he burnt them without Jerusalem, in
the valley of Cedron, and he carried the ashes of them to Bethel.

23:5. And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Juda had
appointed to sacrifice in the high places in the cities of Juda, and
round about Jerusalem: them also that burnt incense to Baal, and to the
sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of
heaven.

23:6. And he caused the grove to be carried out from the house of the
Lord, without Jerusalem, to the valley of Cedron, and he burnt it there,
and reduced it to dust, and cast the dust upon the graves of the common
people.

23:7. He destroyed also the pavilions of the effeminate, which were in
the house of the Lord, for which the women wove as it were little
dwellings for the grove.

23:8. And he gathered together all the priests out of the cities of
Juda: and he defiled the high places, where the priests offered
sacrifice, from Gabaa to Bersabee: and he broke down the altars of the
gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Josue, governor of the
city, which was on the left hand of the gate of the city.

23:9. However, the priests