Detailed Stipulations: Purity and Unity

12 “These are the rules and the regulations that you must diligently observe^[a] in the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^[b] has given to you to take possession of it, during all the days that you are living on the land.

² You must completely demolish all of the places there where they served their gods, that is, the nations whom you are about to dispossess, on the high mountains, and on the hills and under each leafy green tree.^{[c] 3} And you shall break down their altars, and you shall smash their stone pillars, and their Asherah poles you must burn with fire, and the images of their gods you shall hew down, and you shall blot out their names from that place. ⁴ You shall not worship Yahweh your God like this.