2 Kings 23:2

23:2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud 1  all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple.

2 Kings 23:24-25

23:24 Josiah also got rid of 2  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, 3  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, 4  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law 5  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple. 23:25 No king before or after repented before the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, soul, and being in accordance with the whole law of Moses. 6 

1 tn Heb “read in their ears.”

2 tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.

3 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.

4 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.

5 tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”

6 tn Heb “and like him there was not a king before him who returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his being according to all the law of Moses, and after him none arose like him.”

sn The description of Josiah’s devotion as involving his whole “heart, soul, and being” echoes the language of Deut 6:5.