He set up priests of his own for the high places, for the satyrs and the calves which he had made.

for he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the memorial stones, cut down the Asherim,

He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was undisturbed under him.

But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was blameless all his days.

He took great pride in the ways of the Lord, and again removed the high places and the Asherim from Judah.

The high places, however, were not removed; the people had not yet directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

Furthermore, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be unfaithful, and led Judah astray.

He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger.

Idols Are Destroyed

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, broke the memorial stones in pieces, cut down the Asherim and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned to their cities, each to his possession.

Is it not the same Hezekiah who removed His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, “You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn incense”?

For he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down; he also set up altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and he worshiped all the heavenly lights and served them.

However, the people still sacrificed on the high places, although only to the Lord their God.

His prayer also and how God was moved by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of Hozai.

For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images.