Discovery Box2 Kings 23:4 
Context23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, 1 and the guards 2 to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of 3 Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. 4 The king 5 burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces 6 of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 7
2 Kings 23:8
Context23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined 8 the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. 9 He tore down the high place of the goat idols 10 situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.
2 Kings 23:15
Context23:15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel 11 at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. 12 He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. 13
2 Kings 25:17
Context25:17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet 14 high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet 15 high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.
1 tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.
2 tn Or “doorkeepers.”
3 tn Heb “for.”
4 tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.
7 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
8 tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
9 sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
10 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.
11 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
12 tn Heb “And also the altar that is in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin, also that altar and the high place he tore down.” The more repetitive Hebrew text is emphatic.
13 tn Heb “he burned the high place, crushing to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole.” High places per se are never referred to as being burned elsewhere. בָּמָה (bamah) here stands by metonymy for the combustible items located on the high place. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.
14 tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.
15 tn Heb “three cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”
