3 The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people agreed to the covenant.
4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the vessels that were made for Baal, for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he burnt them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5 He got rid of the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burnt incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.
6 He brought out the Asherah from the Lord’s house, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burnt it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people.
7 He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the Lord’s house, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
8 He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn’t come up to the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread amongst their brothers.