3 [AB] In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, he began to seek after the God of David his father. Then in his twelfth year [1] he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the asherahs, and the carved and molten images.

4 In his presence, the altars of the Baals were torn down; the incense stands erected above them he broke down; the asherahs and the carved and molten images he smashed and beat into dust, which he scattered over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them;

5 and the bones of the priests he burned upon their altars. Thus he purified Judah and Jerusalem.