For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek after the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the shrines, and the Asherah poles, and the engraved images, and the cast
metal images.
“shrines.” The Hebrew word “shrines” is bamot, which referred to a place that was leveled and built up and on which were placed various idols and objects of worship. The context indicates these shires were pagan in nature (cp. NLT, “pagan shrines”). Many of the towns had such shrines (see commentary on Num. 33:52).
REV Bible
