1. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
2. He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, and walked in the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
3. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images.
4. They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and he cut down the incense altars that were on high above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images in pieces, made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
5. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
6. He did this in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, around in their ruins.
7. He broke down the altars, and beat the Asherah poles and the engraved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, then returned to Jerusalem.
8. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair Yahweh his God’s house.