He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars: By doing this Josiah fulfilled the prophecy recorded in 1 Kgs 13.2. The priests were those who served the idols, not the priests who served Yahweh. Therefore Good News Translation says “the pagan priests.” The writer does not say that Josiah had these priests killed, but this clause seems to imply that. Their altars is the reading in the margin of the Masoretic Text. The reading in the text itself says “the altars.” Even if the reading in the text of the Masoretic Text is followed, the sense seems to be “their altars,” that is, “the altars where they had offered sacrifices.”

And purged Judah and Jerusalem: See the comments on 2Chr 34.3. Worship of other gods had made Jerusalem and the rest of Judah ritually unclean. Josiah’s action had the effect of making these places “ritually clean again” (Good News Translation).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .