2 Kings 23:5-7

23:5 He eliminated ¹  the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices ²  on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices ³  to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.) 23:6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. ⁴  He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. ⁵  23:7 He tore down the quarters ⁶  of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines ⁷  for Asherah.

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¹ tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”

² tn Or “burn incense.”

³ tn Or “burned incense.”

⁴ tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”

⁵ tc Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.”

tn The phrase “sons of the people” refers here to the common people (see BDB 766 s.v. עַם), as opposed to the upper classes who would have private tombs.

⁶ tn Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”

⁷ tn Heb “houses.” Perhaps tent-shrines made from cloth are in view (see BDB 109 s.v. בַּיִת). M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 286) understand this as referring to clothes made for images of the goddess.