And when he had broken down the altars and the groves,.... The statues or images in them: and had beaten the graven images into powder; and strewed it on the graves of the idolaters: and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel; the sun images as in Ch2 34:4, he returned to Jerusalem; this tour of his throughout the whole land, and the things done by him, which are represented as done before the repairs of the temple were made, and the book of the law found and read, and the covenant he and his people made with the Lord, are spoken of in Kg2 23:4, as if done after.