4. the Baalim] Compare xxxiii. 3 (note).
the sun-images] See note on xiv. 5; and compare 2 Kings xxiii. 11.
⁵And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
5. he burnt the bones of the priests] Specially at Beth-el; 2 Kings xxiii. 15, 16.
⁶And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins[¹] round about. ⁷And he brake down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
[¹] Or, as otherwise read, with their axes. The text is probably corrupt.
6. Simeon] Here as in xv. 9 Simeon is regarded as belonging to the northern tribes, but its cities were in the south; compare the note on xv. 9, and 1 Chronicles iv. 28 ff.
in their ruins] Remark the margin, “with their axes. The text is probably corrupt.” The Versions afford no real help. A plausible conjecture is given by Curtis, who would read, he laid waste their houses.
8–28 (= 2 Kings xxii. 3–20).
Repair of the Temple. Discovery of the Book of the Law.
⁸Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder[¹], to repair the house of the Lord his God.