II Kings - Ferrar Fenton Bible Translation page 405

assembled to himself all the nobles of judah and jerusalem, when the king and all the representatives of ludah and all the inhabitants of jerusalem,and the priests and preach· ers, and all the people from the lowest to the highest, went up to the House ofthe Evan-L1v1N<;, and he read in their hearing all the contents of the Book of Laws that had been found in the House of the EvE1z~1.1v1No. .c. 623.) @32 lling mth §§arlia· ment pmmisz in nlm; ily: §niu. 3 Then the king mounted upon the platform and made a Declaration before the EvER·L1v1NG, to walk after the Evan-Ltvmo, and to keep His Commandments, and his Evidences, and Constitution, with all the heart and with all the soul ; to establish the commands of the Covenant written in that Book,-·—and the Representa- tives of the people confirmed the Declaration. (ac. 623.) Qlnahialy tlixiirpaizz tbz Shula mth their gprizsts. The king also commanded Hilkiah

the High Priest, and the Priests of the Second Rank, and the Guards of the Threshold, to bring out from the Temple of the EvExz—L1v1NG all the appliance they had made for Bal, and for Asherah,1 and for all the Host of the Skies, and to burn them outside ]erusalem, in the fields of Kedron, and carry their rubbish from the House of Gon. He also stopped the Priest of the Stars, whom the kings of ]udah had appointed, who burned incense at the Columns to Bal, and to the Sun, and to the Moon_ and the Planets, and to all

6 the Army of the Skies; and sent the shrines out of the House of the EVER- LIVXNG to the outside of jerusalem, to the brook Kedron, and burnt them at the brook Kedron, and crushed their ashes, and flung the ashes on the graves of the followers of these people. He also pulled down the houses of Prostitution which were in the House of the EvER—L1v1NG, where the women wove curtains for the Shrines. Then he brought all the Priests from the towns of judah, and defiled the Columns where the Priests offered incense, from Gaba to Ber- sheba, and overturned the Columns of the Demons which had been erected at the Gate by joshua, the Governor of the city, on the left hand of each gate of the town. Nor did he permit those priests to sacrifice to the EvER~LIvING at the Columns in jerusalem, unless they ate biscuits among their brethren. He also de— filed the furnace in the valley of the sons of Khinon, where they passed their sons and daughters through the fire to Molok, and destroyed the horses that the kings of judah had dedicated to the Sun at the entry of the Temple of the EvEn·r.1v1N<s near the chamber of Nathan-Melk the eunuch, who was superintendent of the horses and the chariots of the Sun, which he burnt with fire, and the Altars also that were upon the em· bankment of the aqueduct of Ahaz, which the kings of judah had made. And the king threw down the Altars that Manasheh made in the two courts of the House of the EVER- LIVING, and powdered them, and threw their dust into the brook Kedron. The Columns also, which were opposite jerusalem, on the right of the Hill of Consecration, which Solomon, king of Israel,_ built to IO IX I2 Asheroth and to Kemosh, the abomi- nations of Moab, and to Milkom the horror of the Amonites, the king de· stroyed. And he broke the Dihars, 14 and cut down the groves, and titled their place with men’s bones. The Altar also that was in Bethel, which jerabam—ben—Nebat had built when he caused the sin of Israel, both that Altar, and the Columns, he threw down, and burnt the Columns to fine dust, and burnt the Shrines. But joshiah happened to turn and see the tombs which were on the hill, so he sent to take the bones from the tombs, and burnt them upon the

-·—Fortune, the pagan goddess, i All81‘» and d€m€d ih acwldmg W f thEVER·L1v1NG the message oe ·-—F. F. 405 16