He did what the Lord said was wrong. But he was not like his father and mother, because he removed the pillar that his father had made for worshiping Baal.

And I pray that the Lord will forgive me for this: When my master goes to the temple of Rimmon to worship that false god, he will want to lean on me for support. So I must bow down in the temple of Rimmon. I ask the Lord now to forgive me when that happens.”

Jehu Calls the Worshipers of Baal

Then Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve Baal much.

Now call together all the priests and prophets of Baal. And call together everyone who worships Baal. Don’t let anyone miss this meeting. I have a great sacrifice to give to Baal. I will kill anyone who does not come to this meeting.” But Jehu was tricking them. He wanted to destroy the worshipers of Baal.

Then Jehu sent a message through all the land of Israel. All the worshipers of Baal came. Not one stayed home. The Baal worshipers came into the temple of Baal. The temple was filled with people.

Jehu said to the man who kept the robes, “Bring out the robes for all the worshipers of Baal.” So that man brought out the robes for the Baal worshipers.

Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Recab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the worshipers of Baal, “Look around and be sure that there are no servants of the Lord with you. Be sure there are only people who worship Baal.”

The worshipers of Baal went into the temple of Baal to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. But outside, Jehu had 80 men waiting. He told them, “Don’t let anyone escape. If any man lets one person escape, that man must pay with his own life.”

Quickly after Jehu had finished offering the burnt offering, he said to the guards and to the captains, “Go in and kill the worshipers of Baal! Don’t let anyone come out of the temple alive!” So the captains used thin swords and killed the worshipers of Baal. They threw the bodies of the worshipers of Baal out. Then the guards and the captains went to the inner room of the temple of Baal.

So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel,

But he did not destroy the high places. The people still made sacrifices and burned incense at those places of worship.

He did not destroy the high places. The people still sacrificed and burned incense at those places of worship.

But he did not destroy the high places. People still made sacrifices and burned incense in these places of worship.

But he did not destroy the high places. The people still made sacrifices and burned incense at those places of worship. Jotham built the upper gate of the Lord’s Temple.

These things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. And it was the Lord who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt! He saved them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But the Israelites began worshiping other gods.

They burned incense there in all those places for worship. They did these things like the nations that the Lord forced out of the land before them. The Israelites did evil things that made the Lord angry.

They refused to follow his laws and the agreement he made with their ancestors. They would not listen to his warnings. They worshiped idols that were worth nothing and they themselves became worth nothing. The Lord had warned them not to do the evil things that the people in the nations around them did. But they lived the same way those people lived.

The people stopped following the commands of the Lord their God. They made two gold statues of calves. They made Asherah poles. They worshiped all the stars of heaven and served Baal.

But they also worshiped the Lord. They chose priests for the high places from among the people. These priests made sacrifices for the people in the temples at those places of worship.

The Lord made an agreement with the Israelites. He commanded them, “You must not honor other gods. You must not worship them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them.

But you must follow the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt. He used his great power to save you. You must worship him and make sacrifices to him.

Maybe you will say, “We trust the Lord our God to help us.” But I know that Hezekiah destroyed the altars and high places where people worshiped the Lord. Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar here in Jerusalem.”

One day Sennacherib was in the temple of his god Nisroch, worshiping him. His sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword and ran away to Ararat. So his son Esarhaddon became the new king of Assyria.

Manasseh rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He also built altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh worshiped and served the stars of heaven.

Amon lived just as his father had lived. He worshiped and served the same idols his father had worshiped.