³⁴ They set up ^(A)their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.

The Valley of Slaughter

³⁰ “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set ^(A)their detestable things in the house ^(B)that is called by my name, to ^(C)defile it.

⁵ Then he said to me, ^(A)“Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of ^(B)the altar gate, in the entrance, was this ^(C)image of jealousy. ⁶ And he said to me, “Son of man, ^(D)do you see what they are doing, ^(E)the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, ^(F)to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”

⁷ And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. ⁸ Then he said to me, “Son of man, ^(G)dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. ⁹ And he said to me, “Go in, and see ^(H)the vile abominations that they are committing here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and saw. And there, ^(I)engraved on the wall all around, was ^(J)every form of ^(K)creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. ¹¹ And before them stood ^(L)seventy men of ^(M)the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of ^(N)Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and ^(O)the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. ¹² Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing ^(P)in the dark, each ^(Q)in his room of pictures? For they say, ^(R)‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” ¹³ He said also to me, ^(S)“You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”

¹⁴ Then he brought me to ^(T)the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O ^(U)son of man? ^(V)You will see still greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶ And he brought me into ^(W)the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, ^(X)between the ^(Y)porch and ^(Z)the altar, were about twenty-five men, ^(AA)with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping ^(AB)the sun toward the east.

^4 (A)And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(B)“In Jerusalem will I put my name.” ⁵ And he built altars ^(C)for all the host of heaven in ^(D)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (E)And he burned his son as an offering^[a] and ^(F)used fortune-telling and ^(G)omens and dealt ^(H)with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ And the carved image of ^(I)Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, ^(J)and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

¹⁵ And ^(A)he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city.

⁴ And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(A)“In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in ^(B)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (C)And he burned his sons as an offering ^(D)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and ^(E)used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with ^(F)mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ And ^(G)the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, ^(H)I will put my name forever,

⁶ And he brought out ^(A)the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, ^(B)and burned it at the brook Kidron ^(C)and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves ^(D)of the common people.