³² He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth^(A) month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel,^(B) sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made.

² By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah^(A) will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places^(B) who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’”

¹⁵ Even the altar^(A) at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam^(B) son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also.

¹⁶ Then Josiah^(A) looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance^(B) with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.