³ Then the king stood before the pillar and made a covenant in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord, to keep his commandments, his testimony, and his statutes with all his heart, and with all his soul to uphold the words of this covenant, which were written in this book.

Then all the people affirmed this covenant.

Josiah Cleanses the Land

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the lower-ranking priests, and the gatekeepers that they should remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles which had been made for Baal, for Asherah, and for the whole army of the heavens.^[a] He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley, and he took the ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He removed the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places^[b] in the cities of Judah and in the area around Jerusalem, those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to the whole army of the heavens.