2 Kings 23:16 — Meaning and Application

King James Version

“And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that {were} there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned {them} upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.”

2 Kings 23:16

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And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. {images: Heb. statues}

Moreover the altar that {was} at Bethel, {and} the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, {and} stamped {it} small to powder, and burned the grove.

And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that {were} there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned {them} upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

Then he said, What title {is} that that I see? And the men of the city told him, {It is} the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.

And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. {bones alone: Heb. bones to escape}

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From This Chapter

2 Kings 23:1

"And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem."

2 Kings 23:2

"And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. {both...: Heb. from small even unto great}"

2 Kings 23:3

"And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all {their} heart and all {their} soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant."

2 Kings 23:4

"And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel."

2 Kings 23:5

"And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. {put...: Heb. caused to cease} {idolatrous...: Heb. Chemarim} {planets: or, twelve signs or, constellations}"

2 Kings 23:6

"And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped {it} small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people."

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