2 Kings 16:4

16:4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

Exodus 34:13

34:13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. ¹ 

Leviticus 26:1

Exhortation to Obedience

26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, ²  so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before ³  it, for I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 26:1

Exhortation to Obedience

26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, ⁴  so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before ⁵  it, for I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 14:23

14:23 “On the eighth day he must bring them for his purification to the priest at the entrance ⁶  of the Meeting Tent before the Lord,

Isaiah 57:5

57:5 you who practice ritual sex ⁷  under the oaks and every green tree,

who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs. ⁸ 

[34:13]  ¹ tn Or “images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “their Asherah idols.”

[26:1]  ² sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”

[26:1]  ³ tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).

[26:1]  ⁴ sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”

[26:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).

[14:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the doorway of”; KJV, ASV “unto the door of.”

[57:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “inflame yourselves”; NRSV “burn with lust.” This verse alludes to the practice of ritual sex that accompanied pagan fertility rites.

[57:5]  ⁸ sn This apparently alludes to the practice of child sacrifice (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).