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2 Chronicles 34:4

in 2 Chronicles 34

Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they brake down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.

KJV

And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.

This verse in 2 Chronicles 34

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

This destruction of idolatry is here said to be in his twelfth year, but it was said ( 2 Kings xxiii. 23 ) to be in his eighteenth year. Something was probably done towards it in his twelfth year; then he began to purge out idolatry, but that good work met with opposition, so that it was not thoroughly done till they had found the book of the law six years afterwards.

This site's exposition

while he was still young

on 2 Chronicles 34:3-4

Chronicles alone dates the turn. In the eighth year, “while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David,” sixteen years by John Wesley's reckoning. Kings tells the reform from the finding of the book in the eighteenth year and does not record this stage.

This site's exposition

scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, following Bertheau, read the scattering of dust as treating the graves as guilty with the idolaters buried in them. Moses did the like with the golden calf in Exodus 32:20, and 2 Kings 23:6 records the same act at the Kidron.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Pseudo-Tertullian

FIVE BOOKS IN REPLY TO MARCION 3.184-191

proposed

With zeal immense, Josiah, Himself a prince, acted in such a way As no one before or after him had ever done!—Idols he Dethroned; destroyed unhallowed temples; burned With fire priests on their altars; all the bones Of false prophets were dug up; the altars …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them--He treated the graves themselves as guilty of the crimes of those who were lying in them [BERTHEAU].

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

The altars of Baalim - How often have these been broken down, and how soon set up again! We see that the religion of a land is as the religion of its king.
The images - Margin, sun-images. See Lev 26:30 note.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיְנַתְּצ֣וּand people pulled down

    vaynatetzuH5422 →42 times

  • לְפָנָ֗יו<to> before him

    lefanavH6440 →2123 times

  • אֵ֚ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • מִזְבְּח֣וֹת[the] altars of

    mizbechotH4196 →401 times

  • הַבְּעָלִ֔יםthe Baals

    habealimH1168 →82 times

  • וְהַֽחַמָּנִ֛יםand the incense altars

    vehachamanimH2553 →8 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • לְמַ֥עְלָה[were] <to> upwards <towards>

    lema'lahH4605 →140 times

  • מֵעֲלֵיהֶ֖ם<from> above <the> them

    mealeihemH5921 →5755 times

  • גִּדֵּ֑עַhe cut down

    gidea'H1438 →22 times

  • וְ֠הָאֲשֵׁרִיםand the Asherah poles

    vehaasherimH842 →40 times

  • וְהַפְּסִלִ֤יםand the idols

    vehapesilimH6456 →23 times

  • וְהַמַּסֵּכוֹת֙and the molten images

    vehammasekhotH4541 →28 times

  • שִׁבַּ֣רhe broke in pieces

    shibarH7665 →147 times

  • וְהֵדַ֔קand he pulverized [them]

    vehedakH1854 →13 times

  • וַיִּזְרֹק֙and he sprinkled [them]

    vaiyizrokH2236 →35 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • פְּנֵ֣י[the] surface of

    peneiH6440 →2123 times

  • הַקְּבָרִ֔יםthe graves

    hakevarimH6913 →67 times

  • הַזֹּבְחִ֖יםwho sacrificed

    hazoechimH2076 →134 times

  • לָהֶֽם׃to them

    lahem

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 32:20

    Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink…

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 9:21

      And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 7:5

    Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 23:24

      You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

    • Exodus 34:13

      Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.

    • Deuteronomy 12:2–3

      Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

  • Through

    Leviticus 26:30

    I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 23:20

      On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

  • Through

    Psalms 18:42

    I ground them as dust in the face of the wind; I trampled them like mud in the streets.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 10:6

      I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the…

    • 2 Kings 13:7

      Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.

    • Isaiah 41:15–16

      Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Chronicles

Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.
Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Pseudo-Tertullian, FIVE BOOKS IN REPLY TO MARCION 3.184-191.