2 Raja-raja 23:5-7

23:5 He eliminated ¹  the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices ²  on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices ³  to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.) 23:6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. ⁴  He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. ⁵  23:7 He tore down the quarters ⁶  of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines ⁷  for Asherah.

[23:5]  ¹ tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”

[23:5]  ² tn Or “burn incense.”

[23:5]  ³ tn Or “burned incense.”

[23:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”

[23:6]  ⁵ tc Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.”

[23:6]  tn The phrase “sons of the people” refers here to the common people (see BDB 766 s.v. עַם), as opposed to the upper classes who would have private tombs.

[23:7]  ⁶ tn Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”

[23:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “houses.” Perhaps tent-shrines made from cloth are in view (see BDB 109 s.v. בַּיִת). M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 286) understand this as referring to clothes made for images of the goddess.