But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.

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This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles[a](A) and burn their idols in the fire.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 7:5 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah; here and elsewhere in Deuteronomy

24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

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24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship(A) them or follow their practices.(B) You must demolish(C) them and break their sacred stones(D) to pieces.

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Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

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Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains,(A) on the hills and under every spreading tree,(B) where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash(C) their sacred stones and burn(D) their Asherah(E) poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names(F) from those places.

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13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

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13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 34:13 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah

25 And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

26 And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.

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25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.[a] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole[b](A) beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of[c] altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second[d] bull as a burnt offering.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 6:25 Or Take a full-grown, mature bull from your father’s herd
  2. Judges 6:25 That is, a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah; also in verses 26, 28 and 30
  3. Judges 6:26 Or build with layers of stone an
  4. Judges 6:26 Or full-grown; also in verse 28

22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth.

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22 and do not erect a sacred stone,(A) for these the Lord your God hates.

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21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

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21 Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust(A) and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.(B)

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25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therin: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

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25 The images of their gods you are to burn(A) in the fire. Do not covet(B) the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared(C) by it, for it is detestable(D) to the Lord your God.

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26 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God.

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Reward for Obedience

26 “‘Do not make idols(A) or set up an image(B) or a sacred stone(C) for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone(D) in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

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And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.

And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

12 And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

14 And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

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He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley(A) outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder(B) and scattered the dust over the graves(C) of the common people.(D) He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes(E) that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba(F) to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. Although the priests of the high places did not serve(G) at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 He desecrated Topheth,(H) which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(I) so no one could use it to sacrifice their son(J) or daughter in the fire to Molek. 11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah(K) had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court[a] near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.(L)

12 He pulled down(M) the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof(N) near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts(O) of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.(P) 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon(Q) king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable(R) god of the people of Ammon.(S) 14 Josiah smashed(T) the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.(U)

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 23:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

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20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned(A) it in the fire; then he ground it to powder,(B) scattered it on the water(C) and made the Israelites drink it.

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