21 (A)“You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a [a]wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 16:21 Or Asherah

Worshiping Other Gods

21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole(A) beside the altar you build to the Lord your God,(B)

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25 Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and (A)tear down the altar of (B)Baal that your father has, and (C)cut down the [a]wooden image that is beside it;

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 6:25 Heb. Asherah, a Canaanite goddess

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.

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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

26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this [a]rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.”

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 6:26 stronghold

26 Then build a proper kind of[a] 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[b] bull as a burnt offering.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 6:26 Or build with layers of stone an
  2. Judges 6:26 Or full-grown; also in verse 28

(A)He removed the [a]high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the [b]wooden image and broke in pieces the (B)bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it [c]Nehushtan.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 18:4 Places for pagan worship
  2. 2 Kings 18:4 Heb. Asherah, a Canaanite goddess
  3. 2 Kings 18:4 Lit. Bronze Thing, also similar to Heb. nahash, serpent

He removed(A) the high places,(B) smashed the sacred stones(C) and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake(D) Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.[a])

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and snake.

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still (A)young, he began to (B)seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began (C)to purge Judah and Jerusalem (D)of the [a]high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 34:3 Places for pagan worship

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God(A) of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.

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(A)They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them (B)and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

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Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles(A) and the idols. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.(B)

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