2 Kings 23:8

23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined ¹  the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. ²  He tore down the high place of the goat idols ³  situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.

2 Kings 23:11

23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses ⁴  that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) ⁵  He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. ⁶ 

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¹ tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”

² sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.

³ tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.

⁴ tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “who/which was in the […?].” The meaning of the Hebrew term פַּרְוָרִים (parvarim), translated here “courtyards,” is uncertain. The relative clause may indicate where the room was located or explain who Nathan Melech was, “the eunuch who was in the courtyards.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 288-89, who translate “the officer of the precincts.”

⁶ tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”