And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that [pertained] to the children of Israel,.... All their idols, as related in 2 Kings 23:4, c.
and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God by his edicts, and by his example:
and all his days they departed not from following the Lord God of their fathers; not publicly and universally; otherwise there were great declensions and corruptions among them, as the prophecies of Jeremiah and Zephaniah show.