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2 Kings 23: There Was No King Like Him

2 Kings 23 is the climax of Josiah’s reign and the most complete reform narrative in the Old Testament. In his eighteenth year, following the discovery of the Book of the Law narrated in chapter 22, Josiah stands by the temple pillar and makes a public covenant before all the people - priests, prophets, and citizens, small and great - to walk after the LORD with his whole heart and soul. He then dismantles every visible trace of idolatry in Judah and beyond: destroying the vessels of Baal and Asherah, expelling idolatrous priests, defiling the high places from Geba to Beersheba, tearing down the altars Solomon had built on the Mount of Corruption, and commanding the Passover that Israel had not kept since the days of the judges. The chapter closes with the Deuteronomistic historian’s highest verdict on any king of Israel or Judah: “There was no king like him before him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses.”

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Quick Answer

2 Kings 23 records King Josiah’s sweeping reformation of Judah - a public covenant renewal before all the people, the systematic purging of every form of idolatry from the land, and the restoration of Passover, earning the highest commendation given to any king in Israel’s history.

About 2 Kings 23

Second Kings 23 belongs to the Deuteronomistic History, the multi-book theological narrative spanning Joshua through 2 Kings that interprets Israel’s story through the lens of covenant faithfulness. The chapter is the climax of Josiah’s reign (640-609 BC), presented as the culmination of an entire tradition’s hope: a king who, unlike every predecessor since David, responds to the word of God not with accommodation but with total action. Josiah’s covenant at the temple pillar (verse 3) is structurally parallel to the covenant renewals of Joshua 24 and 2 Chronicles 15 - a public, formal commitment before God witnessed by the entire assembled community.

The reform Josiah undertakes is systematically thorough. He begins in the temple itself, removing vessels made for Baal, Asherah, and “all the army of the sky” (the astral deities), burning them at the brook Kidron. He destroys the houses of male shrine prostitutes in the temple precincts, expels idolatrous priests from the high places across Judah, defiles Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom where children had been sacrificed to Molech, and removes the sun-horses dedicated by earlier kings at the temple entrance. He then extends the reform northward into the former territory of Israel, desecrating the altar Jeroboam built at Bethel - the very altar prophesied against by the unnamed man of God in 1 Kings 13, a detail Josiah honors by leaving that prophet’s tomb undisturbed.

The restoration of Passover (verses 21-23) is the chapter’s theological center. The historian notes it was not observed in this manner from the days of the judges through all the reigns of the divided monarchy - perhaps four hundred years. Josiah’s Passover is not a private or priestly act; it is a national recommitment to the exodus event that defined Israel as a people under God’s covenant. The historian’s verdict that follows (verse 25) is unique in the entire canon of Israelite kings: Josiah exceeded even David in covenantal wholeheartedness - heart, soul, and might, the full Shema of Deuteronomy 6:5.

The chapter ends with a structural grief. Despite Josiah’s faithfulness, the LORD declares in verses 26-27 that Judah’s judgment for Manasseh’s sins will not be turned back. The two truths stand together without resolution: a man can be uniquely faithful and still inhabit a history whose consequences he did not set in motion. Josiah himself dies at Megiddo (verse 29), killed by Pharaoh Necoh, and the Davidic dynasty enters its final decades. The chapter is simultaneously the pinnacle and the last breath of Judah’s reform tradition.

Full Chapter Text

2 Kings 23 (World English Bible)

  1. The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
  2. The king went up to the LORD’s house, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him - with the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the LORD’s house.
  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, to the moon, 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.
  10. He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
  11. He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the LORD’s house, by the room of Nathan Melech the officer who was in the court; and he burnt the chariots of the sun with fire.
  12. The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the LORD’s house, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.
  13. The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon.
  14. He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.
  15. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burnt the high place and beat it to dust, and burnt the Asherah.
  16. As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burnt them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the LORD’s word which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
  17. Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
  18. He said, “Let him be! Let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.
  19. All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
  20. He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burnt men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
  21. The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.”
  22. Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
  23. but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.
  24. Moreover, Josiah removed those who had familiar spirits, the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the LORD’s house.
  25. There was no king like him before him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; and there was none like him who arose after him.
  26. Notwithstanding, the LORD didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burnt against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.
  27. The LORD said, “I will also remove Judah out of my sight, as I have removed Israel; and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
  28. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
  29. In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him, but Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him.
  30. His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
  31. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
  32. He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done.
  33. Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
  34. Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim; but he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there.
  35. Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh.
  36. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
  37. He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done.

World English Bible. Public domain.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main message of 2 Kings 23?

Josiah’s wholehearted reformation demonstrates what total covenantal loyalty to God looks like in practice - while also showing that even the most faithful human king cannot reverse the consequences of a nation’s prolonged rejection of God. His story is simultaneously a high-water mark and a tragedy: a man who gives everything, embedded in a history whose judgment he did not cause and could not stop.

Who wrote 2 Kings 23?

Second Kings belongs to the Deuteronomistic History, a theological interpretation of Israel’s history from the conquest through the Babylonian exile. The composition is traditionally attributed to Jeremiah or his scribal circle, drawn from royal annals, prophetic sources, and temple records, with a core compilation around 550-540 BC. The events of chapter 23 are set in Josiah’s eighteenth year, approximately 621 BC.

What does “turned to the LORD with all his heart” mean in 2 Kings 23:25?

The phrase echoes the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:5 - the foundational command to love God with all heart, soul, and might. Applied to Josiah, it is the highest commendation the Deuteronomistic historian gives to any king. It means not merely devout behavior or religious policy, but total covenantal reorientation of his whole person - will, affections, energy, and power - directed toward God. The historian notes no king before or after him achieved this verdict.

How does 2 Kings 23 connect to Christ and the New Covenant?

Josiah’s restoration of Passover directly foreshadows the Last Supper, where Jesus reframed the Passover meal around himself as the true Passover lamb whose blood inaugurates a new covenant. Where Josiah commanded Passover as a memorial of physical deliverance from Egypt, Jesus declared himself the greater deliverance it had always pointed toward. Josiah’s wholehearted devotion also prefigures the Messiah - the one king who alone perfectly loved God with heart, soul, and might, fulfilling Deuteronomy 6:5 in a way every Israelite king, including Josiah, ultimately fell short of completing.

What was Josiah’s reformation specifically?

Josiah’s reform was a systematic purge of every form of non-Yahwistic worship from Judah and the former northern kingdom. He destroyed the vessels made for Baal and Asherah in the temple, expelled idolatrous priests from cities across Judah, defiled Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom to end child sacrifice, removed the sun-horses from the temple entrance, tore down the altars of Manasseh in the temple courts, and demolished the high places Solomon had built for foreign gods on the Mount of Corruption. He extended the reform to Bethel, destroying the altar Jeroboam built - fulfilling a prophecy given three centuries earlier in 1 Kings 13.

Who was Josiah?

Josiah became king of Judah at age eight following the assassination of his father Amon, and he reigned from approximately 640-609 BC. The Deuteronomistic historian presents him as the most faithful king in Israel’s history - unmatched in wholehearted devotion to the LORD. He is the last king to receive unqualified praise before the Babylonian exile, and his death at Megiddo against Pharaoh Necoh marks the beginning of Judah’s final political collapse, which his faithful reign had temporarily arrested.

What is Topheth?

Topheth was a site in the Valley of Hinnom (Hebrew: Ge-Hinnom, from which the Greek “Gehenna” derives) south of Jerusalem where, during periods of apostasy, Israelites sacrificed children by fire to Molech. The practice is condemned throughout the prophets, particularly Jeremiah 7:31-32. Josiah’s defiling of Topheth - rendering it ritually unclean so it could no longer be used for worship - was one of the most symbolically significant acts of his reformation.

How many verses are in 2 Kings 23?

2 Kings 23 contains 37 verses.

Reading Plans Featuring This Chapter

Sources & Further Reading

  1. Walter Brueggemann, “1 & 2 Kings,” Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary - The definitive pastoral-theological commentary on the Deuteronomistic History
  2. The Bible Project - 1-2 Kings Overview - Accessible video introduction to the narrative arc and major themes
  3. Iain Provan, “1 and 2 Kings,” New International Biblical Commentary - Evangelical scholarship on the text’s canonical and historical dimensions

About Psalm Selah

Psalm Selah is the cinematic indie-folk project of Psalmody Press, a male and female duo bringing Scripture into the sonic world of contemporary indie - fingerpicked acoustic guitar, cello-led strings, brushed drums, mandolin shimmer, and two voices used as a per-song lever (a raw male lead, an ethereal female lead, harmony, duo, or solo). The duo works in the tradition of Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire,” Hozier, Bon Iver, Sleeping at Last, Sandra McCracken, and Andrew Peterson, with Hans Zimmer’s intimate-to-cinematic dynamic range. Their signature compositional move is build choreography - every song-structure transition is locked 1:1 to an instrumentation event, so the song’s shape is its instrumentation order. Their signature lyric move is the structural Selah - a held silence inside the song, sonic and lyrical, where the listener is asked to pause and consider what was just said. They are setting every chapter of the Bible to song, with particular attention to the wisdom literature, the parables of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, the apocalyptic books, and the chapters of Scripture where careful, lyrical attention rewards close listening.

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Published: 2026-06-05 · Last updated: 2026-06-05 Written by: Reid Wender, Editorial Director, Psalmody Press

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Written by Reid Wender, Editorial Director at Psalmody Press