¹⁵ And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot^(A) Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused^(B) the Lord’s anger by making Asherah^(C) poles.^[a]

¹⁵ But just as all the good things^(A) the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things^(B) he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you^(C) from this good land he has given you.^{(D) 16} If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.^(E)”

²⁹ In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser^(A) king of Assyria came and took Ijon,^(B) Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali,^(C) and deported^(D) the people to Assyria.

³ Break down their altars, smash^(A) their sacred stones and burn^(B) their Asherah^(C) poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names^(D) from those places.

⁴ You must not worship the Lord your God in their way.^(E)

¹³ Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.^{[a](A) 14} Do not worship any other god,^(B) for the Lord, whose name^(C) is Jealous, is a jealous God.^(D)

²⁴ After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?