Discovery Box2 Chronicles 14:3
Context14:3 He removed the pagan altars 1 and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. 2
2 Chronicles 23:17
Context23:17 All the people went and demolished 3 the temple of Baal. They smashed its altars and idols. 4 They killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
2 Chronicles 32:12
Context32:12 Hezekiah is the one who eliminated 5 the Lord’s 6 high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, “At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.”
2 Chronicles 34:3-7
Context34:3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor 7 David. In his twelfth year he began ridding 8 Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images. 34:4 He ordered the altars of the Baals to be torn down, 9 and broke the incense altars that were above them. He smashed the Asherah poles, idols and images, crushed them up and sprinkled the dust over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them. 34:5 He burned the bones of the pagan priests 10 on their altars; he purified Judah and Jerusalem. 34:6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins 11 around them, 34:7 he tore down the altars and Asherah poles, demolished the idols, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Exodus 23:24
Context23:24 “You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones 12 to pieces. 13
Deuteronomy 7:5
Context7:5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, 14 cut down their sacred Asherah poles, 15 and burn up their idols.
Deuteronomy 7:2
Context7:2 and he 16 delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate 17 them. Make no treaty 18 with them and show them no mercy!
Deuteronomy 18:4
Context18:4 You must give them the best of your 19 grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks.
[14:3] 1 tn Heb “the altars of the foreigner.”
[14:3] 2 sn Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [’asherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 7:5; 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
[32:12] 5 tn Heb “Did not he, Hezekiah, eliminate…?” This rhetorical question presupposes a positive reply (“yes, he did”) and so has been translated here as a positive statement.
[32:12] 6 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the
[34:4] 9 tn Heb “and they tore down before him the altars of the Baals.”
[34:5] 10 tn Heb “the priests”; the qualifying adjective “pagan” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[34:6] 11 tn “In their ruins” is the marginal reading (Qere) of the Hebrew text.
[23:24] 12 tn The Hebrew is מַצֵּבֹתֵיהֶם (matsevotehem, “their standing stones”); these long stones were erected to represent the abode of the numen or deity. They were usually set up near the altar or the high place. To destroy these would be to destroy the centers of Canaanite worship in the land.
[23:24] 13 tn Both verbs are joined with their infinitive absolutes to provide the strongest sense to these instructions. The images of the false gods in Canaan were to be completely and utterly destroyed. This could not be said any more strongly.
[7:5] 14 sn Sacred pillars. The Hebrew word (מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) denotes a standing pillar, usually made of stone. Its purpose was to mark the presence of a shrine or altar thought to have been visited by deity. Though sometimes associated with pure worship of the
[7:5] 15 sn Sacred Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [’asherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
[7:2] 16 tn Heb “the
[7:2] 17 tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizes the statement. The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here. Cf. ASV “shalt (must NRSV) utterly destroy them”; CEV “must destroy them without mercy.”
