2 Raja-raja 23:5

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.)

2 Raja-raja 23:8

23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined ⁴  the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. ⁵  He tore down the high place of the goat idols ⁶  situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.

[23:5]  ¹ tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”

[23:5]  ² tn Or “burn incense.”

[23:5]  ³ tn Or “burned incense.”

[23:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”

[23:8]  ⁵ sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.

[23:8]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.