³ For he rebuilt the high places ^(A)that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made ^(B)Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

²¹ “You shall not plant any tree as ^(A)an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make.

³ and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or ^(A)the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, ^(B)which I have forbidden,

Hezekiah Organizes the Priests

31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and ^(A)broke in pieces the ^(B)pillars and cut down ^(C)the Asherim and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, every man to his possession.

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

¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—^(A)all the houses on whose ^(B)roofs offerings have been offered ^(C)to all the host of heaven, and ^(D)drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled ^(E)like the place of Topheth.’”

^18 (A)Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but ^(B)one sinner destroys much good.

⁵ And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations ^(A)and all the host of the heavens. ⁶ And he brought out ^(B)the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, ^(C)and burned it at the brook Kidron ^(D)and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves ^(E)of the common people.