Exodus 34:13-14

34:13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. ¹  34:14 For you must not worship ²  any other god, ³  for the Lord, whose name ⁴  is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 12:3-4

12:3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ⁵  burn up their sacred Asherah poles, ⁶  and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place. 12:4 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they worship.

Isaiah 1:28-29

1:28 All rebellious sinners will be shattered, ⁷ 

those who abandon the Lord will perish.

1:29 Indeed, they ⁸  will be ashamed of the sacred trees

you ⁹  find so desirable;

you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards ¹⁰ 

where you choose to worship.

¹ tn Or “images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “their Asherah idols.”

² tn Heb “bow down.”

³ sn In Exod 20:3 it was “gods.”

⁴ sn Here, too, the emphasis on God’s being a jealous God is repeated (see Exod 20:5). The use of “name” here is to stress that this is his nature, his character.

⁵ sn Sacred pillars. These are the stelae (stone pillars; the Hebrew term is מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See also Deut 7:5.

⁶ sn Sacred Asherah poles. The Hebrew term (plural) is אֲשֵׁרִים (’asherim). See note on the word “(leafy) tree” in v. 2, and also Deut 7:5.

⁷ tn Heb “and [there will be] a shattering of rebels and sinners together.”

⁸ tc The Hebrew text (and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) has the third person here, though a few Hebrew mss (and Targums) read the second person, which is certainly more consistent with the following context. The third person form is the more difficult reading and probably original. This disagreement in person has caused some to emend the first verb (3rd plural) to a 2nd plural form (followed by most English translations). The BHS textual apparatus suggests that the 2nd plural form be read even though there is only sparse textual evidence. LXX, Syriac, and the Vulgate change all the 2nd person verbs in 1:29-31 to 3rd person verbs. It is likely that the change to a 2nd person form represents an attempt at syntactical harmonization (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 10). The abrupt change from 3rd person to 2nd person may have been intentional for rhetorical impact (GKC 462 §144.p). The rapid change from exclamation (they did!) to reproach (you desired!) might be regarded as a rhetorical figure focusing attention on the addressees and their conditions (de Waard, 10; E. König, Stilistik, Rhetorik, Poetik, 239). This use of the 3rd person could also be understood as an impersonal third person: “one will be ashamed” (de Waard, 10). In v. 29 the prophet continues his description of the sinners (v. 28), but then suddenly makes a transition to direct address (switching from 3^rd to 2^nd person) in the middle of his sentence.

⁹ tn The second person pronouns in vv. 29-30 are masculine plural, indicating that the rebellious sinners (v. 28) are addressed.

¹⁰ tn Or “gardens” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “groves.”