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In almost every town in Judah, priests had been offering sacrifices to the Lord at local shrines.[a] Josiah brought these priests to Jerusalem and had their shrines made unfit for worship—every shrine from Geba just north of Jerusalem to Beersheba in the south. He even tore down the shrine at Beersheba that was just to the left of Joshua Gate, which was named after the highest official of the city. Those local priests could not serve at the Lord's altar in Jerusalem, but they were allowed to eat sacred bread,[b] just like the priests from Jerusalem.

10 (A) Josiah sent some men to Hinnom Valley just outside Jerusalem with orders to make the altar there unfit for worship. That way, people could no longer use it for sacrificing their children to the god Molech.

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Footnotes

  1. 23.8 local shrines: See the note at 12.3.
  2. 23.9 sacred bread: The Hebrew text has “thin bread,” which may be either the pieces of thin bread made without yeast to be eaten during the Passover Festival (see verses 21-23) or the baked flour used in sacrifices to give thanks to the Lord (see Leviticus 2.4,5).

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