“Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath.” This is not because God does not forgive sins, because He does. It was because the sin and idolatry in Judah ran so deep that Josiah’s reforms did not penetrate into the hearts of the people. As soon as Josiah was killed in battle, his three sons who were three of the next four kings of Judah, all did evil in the sight of Yahweh, and the fourth king, who was a grandson, did too (2 Kings 23:31-32, 36-37; 2 Kings 24:8-9, 17-19). In this verse, God piles on words for anger to express how angry He was because of the sins of His people, Judah, who had entered into a covenant with Him to obey Him. The “anger words” include: Aph (#0639 אַף 'aph) a noun, literally “nostril, nose, face” but used idiomatically of anger because of the way the face changes when someone is angry. Charon (#02740 חָרוֹן), a noun, “heat, anger.” Charah (#02734 חָרָה), a verb, “be hot, be burning, be angry.” Kaas (#03708 כַּעַס), a noun, “anger, vexation, provocation.” Kaas (#03707 כָּעַס), a verb, “to be angry, be vexed, be provoked.” All these words are used leaving the abundantly clear message that God was very angry with Judah because of their sins, especially the sins of King Manasseh, some of which are listed in 2 Kings 21:2-3.