²⁴ Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God and cut in pieces the utensils of the house of God. He shut up the doors of the house of the Lord and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.^(A)

⁷ They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not offered incense or made burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.

³ For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had pulled down and erected altars to the Baals, made sacred poles,^[a] worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.^{(A) 4} He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.”^{(B) 5} He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.^(C)

¹⁴ They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for offering incense they took away and threw into the Wadi Kidron.^(A)

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the laver from them; he removed the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a pediment of stone.^{(A) 18} The covered portal for use on the Sabbath that had been built inside the palace and the outer entrance for the king he removed from^[a] the house of the Lord. He did this because of the king of Assyria.

²³ For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols.^(A)

The Temple Cleansed

³ In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.^(A)