²⁴ You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them^[a] and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.^(A)

³ Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every^[a] place.

⁴ He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles.^(A) He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made,^(B) for the Israelites burned incense to it up to that time. He called it Nehushtan.^[a]

Josiah’s Reform

³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David,^(A) and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images,^(B) and the cast images. ⁴ Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he chopped down the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered^(C) them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.^(D)