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30 I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols,[a] and I will despise you.

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Footnotes

  1. 26:30 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.

30 I will destroy your high places,(A) cut down your incense altars(B) and pile your dead bodies[a] on the lifeless forms of your idols,(C) and I will abhor(D) you.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 26:30 Or your funeral offerings

20 He executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them. Finally, he returned to Jerusalem.

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20 Josiah slaughtered(A) all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones(B) on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

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The Lord did this to purge Israel’s[a] wickedness,
    to take away all her sin.
As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust.
    No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.

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Footnotes

  1. 27:9 Hebrew Jacob’s. See note on 14:1.

By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned(A) for,
    and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:(B)
When he makes all the altar stones(C)
    to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles[a](D) or incense altars(E)
    will be left standing.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 27:9 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah

13 They will know that I am the Lord when their dead lie scattered among their idols and altars on every hill and mountain and under every green tree and every great shade tree—the places where they offered sacrifices to their idols.

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13 And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols(A) around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak(B)—places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.(C)

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Proclaim this message from the Sovereign Lord against the mountains of Israel. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills and to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring war upon you, and I will smash your pagan shrines. All your altars will be demolished, and your places of worship will be destroyed. I will kill your people in front of your idols.[a] I will lay your corpses in front of your idols and scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you live there will be desolation, and I will destroy your pagan shrines. Your altars will be demolished, your idols will be smashed, your places of worship will be torn down, and all the religious objects you have made will be destroyed.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:4 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung; also in 6:5, 6, 9, 13.

and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys:(A) I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.(B) Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars(C) will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols.(D) I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones(E) around your altars.(F) Wherever you live,(G) the towns will be laid waste and the high places(H) demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols(I) smashed and ruined, your incense altars(J) broken down, and what you have made wiped out.(K)

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A Prayer for Healing

19 Lord, have you completely rejected Judah?
    Do you really hate Jerusalem?[a]
Why have you wounded us past all hope of healing?
    We hoped for peace, but no peace came.
    We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.

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Footnotes

  1. 14:19 Hebrew Zion?

19 Have you rejected Judah completely?(A)
    Do you despise Zion?
Why have you afflicted us
    so that we cannot be healed?(B)
We hoped for peace
    but no good has come,
for a time of healing
    but there is only terror.(C)

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“In that day,” says the Lord, “the enemy will break open the graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and common people of Jerusalem. They will spread out their bones on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars—the gods my people have loved, served, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like manure. And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!

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“‘At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones(A) of the people of Jerusalem will be removed(B) from their graves. They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served(C) and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped.(D) They will not be gathered up or buried,(E) but will be like dung lying on the ground.(F) Wherever I banish them,(G) all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life,(H) declares the Lord Almighty.’

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38 But now you have rejected him and cast him off.
    You are angry with your anointed king.

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38 But you have rejected,(A) you have spurned,
    you have been very angry with your anointed one.

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58 They angered God by building shrines to other gods;
    they made him jealous with their idols.
59 When God heard them, he was very angry,
    and he completely rejected Israel.

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58 They angered him(A) with their high places;(B)
    they aroused his jealousy with their idols.(C)
59 When God heard(D) them, he was furious;(E)
    he rejected Israel(F) completely.

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During the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David. Then in the twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem, destroying all the pagan shrines, the Asherah poles, and the carved idols and cast images. He ordered that the altars of Baal be demolished and that the incense altars which stood above them be broken down. He also made sure that the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images were smashed and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He burned the bones of the pagan priests on their own altars, and so he purified Judah and Jerusalem.

He did the same thing in the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even as far as Naphtali, and in the regions[a] all around them. He destroyed the pagan altars and the Asherah poles, and he crushed the idols into dust. He cut down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Finally, he returned to Jerusalem.

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Footnotes

  1. 34:6 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads in their temples, or in their ruins. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

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. 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(B) and the idols. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.(C) He burned(D) the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem. In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them, he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder(E) and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

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Hezekiah’s Religious Reforms

31 When the festival ended, the Israelites who attended went to all the towns of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, and they smashed all the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and removed the pagan shrines and altars. After this, the Israelites returned to their own towns and homes.

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31 When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down(A) the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.

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17 And all the people went over to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They demolished the altars and smashed the idols, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.

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17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols and killed(A) Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.

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He removed the foreign altars and the pagan shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. He commanded the people of Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his law and his commands. Asa also removed the pagan shrines, as well as the incense altars from every one of Judah’s towns. So Asa’s kingdom enjoyed a period of peace.

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He removed the foreign altars(A) and the high places, smashed the sacred stones(B) and cut down the Asherah poles.[a](C) He commanded Judah to seek the Lord,(D) the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. He removed the high places(E) and incense altars(F) in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 14:3 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah; here and elsewhere in 2 Chronicles