2 Chronicles 34:7

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 32:20

32:20 He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it ¹  to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. ² 

Deuteronomy 9:21

9:21 As for your sinful thing ³  that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down, ⁴  ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain.

Deuteronomy 9:2

9:2 They include the Anakites, ⁵  a numerous ⁶  and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?”

Deuteronomy 23:12

23:12 You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine. ⁷ 

Psalms 18:42

18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; ⁸ 

I beat them underfoot ⁹  like clay ¹⁰  in the streets.

Isaiah 27:9

27:9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ¹¹ 

and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ¹² 

They will make all the stones of the altars ¹³ 

like crushed limestone,

and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ¹⁴ 

[32:20]  ¹ tn Here “it” has been supplied.

[32:20]  ² tn Here “it” has been supplied.

[9:21]  ³ tn Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the metal calf).

[9:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “burned it with fire.”

[9:2]  ⁵ sn Anakites. See note on this term in Deut 1:28.

[9:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[23:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “so that one may go outside there.” This expression is euphemistic.

[18:42]  ⁸ tn Heb “I pulverize them like dust upon the face of the wind.” The phrase “upon the face of” here means “before.” 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “like dust of the earth.”

[18:42]  ⁹ tc Ps 18:42 reads, “I empty them out” (Hiphil of ריק), while 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “I crush them, I stomp on them” (juxtaposing the synonyms דקק and רקע). It is likely that the latter is a conflation of variants. One, but not both, of the verbs in 2 Sam 22:43 is probably original; “empty out” does not form as good a parallel with “grind, pulverize” in the parallel line.

[18:42]  ¹⁰ tn Or “mud.”

[27:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “be atoned for” (NIV); cf. NRSV “be expiated.”

[27:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and this [is] all the fruit of removing his sin.” The meaning of the statement is not entirely clear, though “removing his sin” certainly parallels “Jacob’s sin will be removed” in the preceding line. If original, “all the fruit” may refer to the result of the decision to remove sin, but the phrase may be a corruption of לְכַפֵּר (lekhaper, “to atone for”), which in turn might be a gloss on הָסִר (hasir, “removing”).

[27:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “when he makes the stones of an altar.” The singular “altar” is collective here; pagan altars are in view, as the last line of the verse indicates. See also 17:8.

[27:9]  ¹⁴ sn As interpreted and translated above, this verse says that Israel must totally repudiate its pagan religious practices in order to experience God’s forgiveness and restoration. Another option is to understand “in this way” and “this” in v. 9a as referring back to the judgment described in v. 8. In this case כָּפַר (kafar, “atone for”) is used in a sarcastic sense; Jacob’s sin is “atoned for” and removed through severe judgment. Following this line of interpretation, one might paraphrase the verse as follows: “So in this way (through judgment) Jacob’s sin will be “atoned for,” and this is the way his sin will be removed, when he (i.e., God) makes all the altar stones like crushed limestone….” This interpretation is more consistent with the tone of judgment in vv. 8 and 10-11.