¹² He put away the illicit priests out of the land and removed all the idols that his ancestors had made.^(A)

⁴⁶ The remnant of the illicit priests who remained from the days of his father Asa, he purged from the land.^(A)

²³ For they also built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles^[a] on every high hill and under every green tree;^{(A) 24} there were also illicit priests in the land. They committed all the abominations of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.^(B)

⁷ Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust,^[a] serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.^(A)

¹⁸ You know that you were ransomed from the futile conduct inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold

²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Their females exchanged natural intercourse^[a] for unnatural,^{(A) 27} and in the same way also the males, giving up natural intercourse^[b] with females, were consumed with their passionate desires for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.^(B)

^2 [a]Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord his God. ³ He took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, cut down the sacred poles,^{[b](A) 4} and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to keep the law and the commandment. ⁵ He also removed from all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom was quiet under him.^(B)

⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain east of Jerusalem.^{(A) 8} He did the same for all his foreign wives who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.

² “The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. ³ Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.^{(A) 4} Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or heed me, says the Lord.^{(B) 5} Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶ But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? So they repented and said, ‘The Lord of hosts has dealt with us according to our ways and deeds, just as he planned to do.’ ”^(C)

¹⁸ I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents, nor observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I the Lord am your God; follow my statutes, be careful to observe my ordinances,^(A)