2 Chronicles 34:5

2Ch 34:5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

Ver. 5. And he burnt the bones.] That those altars might be defiled, discredited, and abhorred for ever.

He cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.] Cleansed it as well as he could; bringing them to an outward conformity, whose hearts were still full of harlotry; as well appeared when Josiah’s head was laid.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Read 2 Kings 23:16.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars--A greater brand of infamy could not have been put on idolatrous priests than the disinterment of their bones, and a greater defilement could not have been done to the altars of idolatry than the burning upon them the bones of those who had there officiated in their lifetime.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. He burnt the bones of the priests] כומריא kumeraiya, the kemarim, says the Targum. See this word explained, 2Kg 23:5.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(5) And he burnt . . . upon their altar.—See 2Ki_23:13-14; 2Ki_23:16; 2Ki_23:20 for details. Literally, and bones of priests he burnt. They were bones taken from the graves of the idolatrous priests, who were thus punished, while their altars were irreparably defiled. (For the horror with which such a violation of the dead was then regarded, see Amo_2:1.)

And cleansed (i.e., “purged,” 2Ch_34:3) Judah and Jerusalem.—This phrase does not occur at all in the parallel account.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. he burnt the bones of the priests] Specially at Beth-el; 2Ki_23:15-16.

cleansed] R.V. purged (as in 2Ch_34:3; 2Ch_34:8).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali,.... Which though they belonged to the ten tribes, yet these being carried captive by the king of Assyria, they that were left became subject to the kings of Judah; see Gill on Kg2 23:19,

with their mattocks round about; or hammers or mauls, as Kimchi, or pick axes, such sort of instruments as were used in demolishing altars and images: the Targum is,"in the house of their desolation;''

and so other versions, "in their desolate places" (x), which were become such, the inhabitants being carried captive, and few left behind.

(x) "in desolatis locis suis, vel eorum", Montanus, Tigurine version, Rambachius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Priests, whom he slew upon the altars, 4 K. xxiii.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Note herein the striking fulfilment of 1Ki_13:1-3, of which our parallel (2Ki_23:12-14, 2Ki_23:16-20) gives a more detailed account, especially as regards Israel, though not failing to recognize Judah and Jerusalem"s share in the need of purgation and punishment.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, i.e., he caused the bones of the idolatrous priests to be taken from their graves and burnt on the spot where the destroyed altars had stood, that he might defile the place with the ashes of the dead. In these words is summarized what is stated in Kg2 23:13 and Kg2 23:14 as to the defilement of the places of sacrifice built upon the Mount of Olives by the bones of the dead, and in Kg2 23:16-20 as to the burning of the bones of the high priests of Bethel, after they had been taken from their graves, upon their own altars. מזבחותים is an orthographical error for מזבּחותם.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)