2 Kings 18:4

18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ¹  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ²  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ³ 

2 Kings 23:7-14

23:7 He tore down the quarters ⁴  of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines ⁵  for Asherah.

23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined ⁶  the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. ⁷  He tore down the high place of the goat idols ⁸  situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate. 23:9 (Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.) ⁹  23:10 The king ¹⁰  ruined Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that no one could pass his son or his daughter through the fire to Molech. ¹¹  23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses ¹²  that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) ¹³  He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. ¹⁴  23:12 The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up ¹⁵  and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley. 23:13 The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction, ¹⁶  that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom. 23:14 He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah pole, and filled those shrines ¹⁷  with human bones.

Leviticus 26:30

26:30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, ¹⁸  and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. ¹⁹  I will abhor you. ²⁰ 

Deuteronomy 7:5

7:5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ²¹  cut down their sacred Asherah poles, ²²  and burn up their idols.

Deuteronomy 7:25

7:25 You must burn the images of their gods, but do not covet the silver and gold that covers them so much that you take it for yourself and thus become ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent ²³  to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 7:1

The Dispossession of Nonvassals

7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, ²⁴  Girgashites, ²⁵  Amorites, ²⁶  Canaanites, ²⁷  Perizzites, ²⁸  Hivites, ²⁹  and Jebusites, ³⁰  seven ³¹  nations more numerous and powerful than you –

Deuteronomy 16:1-2

The Passover-Unleavened Bread Festival

16:1 Observe the month Abib ³²  and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month ³³  he ³⁴  brought you out of Egypt by night. 16:2 You must sacrifice the Passover animal ³⁵  (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he ³⁶  chooses to locate his name.

Deuteronomy 34:3-7

34:3 the Negev, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of the date palm trees, as far as Zoar. 34:4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ³⁷  I have let you see it, ³⁸  but you will not cross over there.”

34:5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said. 34:6 He ³⁹  buried him in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day. 34:7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull ⁴⁰  nor had his vitality ⁴¹  departed.

[18:4]  ¹ tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.

[18:4]  ² tn Heb “until those days.”

[18:4]  ³ tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”

[23:7]  ⁴ tn Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”

[23:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “houses.” Perhaps tent-shrines made from cloth are in view (see BDB 109 s.v. בַּיִת). M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 286) understand this as referring to clothes made for images of the goddess.

[23:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”

[23:8]  ⁷ sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.

[23:8]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.

[23:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “their brothers.”

[23:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:10]  ¹¹ sn Attempts to identify this deity with a god known from the ancient Near East have not yet yielded a consensus. For brief discussions see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor II Kings (AB), 288 and HALOT 592 s.v. מֹלֶךְ. For more extensive studies see George C. Heider, The Cult of Molek, and John Day, Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament.

[23:11]  ¹² tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “who/which was in the […?].” The meaning of the Hebrew term פַּרְוָרִים (parvarim), translated here “courtyards,” is uncertain. The relative clause may indicate where the room was located or explain who Nathan Melech was, “the eunuch who was in the courtyards.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 288-89, who translate “the officer of the precincts.”

[23:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”

[23:12]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads, “he ran from there,” which makes little if any sense in this context. Some prefer to emend the verbal form (Qal of רוּץ [ruts], “run”) to a Hiphil of רוּץ with third plural suffix and translate, “he quickly removed them” (see BDB 930 s.v. רוּץ, and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [AB], 289). The suffix could have been lost in MT by haplography (note the mem [מ] that immediately follows the verb on the form מִשֳׁם, misham, “from there”). Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to emend the verb to a Piel of רָצַץ (ratsats), “crush,” with third plural suffix.

[23:13]  ¹⁶ sn This is a derogatory name for the Mount of Olives, involving a wordplay between מָשְׁחָה (mashÿkhah), “anointing,” and מַשְׁחִית (mashÿkhit), “destruction.” See HALOT 644 s.v. מַשְׁחִית and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.

[23:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their places.”

[26:30]  ¹⁸ sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”

[26:30]  ¹⁹ tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.

[26:30]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”

[7:5]  ²¹ 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 Lord (Gen 28:18, 22; 31:13; 35:14; Exod 24:4), these pillars were usually associated with pagan cults and rituals (Exod 23:24; 34:13; Deut 12:3; 1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:10; Hos 3:4; 10:1; Jer 43:13).

[7:5]  ²² 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).

[7:25]  ²³ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abhorrent; detestable”) describes anything detestable to the Lord because of its innate evil or inconsistency with his own nature and character. Frequently such things (or even persons) must be condemned to annihilation (חֵרֶם, kherem) lest they become a means of polluting or contaminating others (cf. Deut 13:17; 20:17-18). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:315.

[7:1]  ²⁴ sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).

[7:1]  ²⁵ sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).

[7:1]  ²⁶ sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

[7:1]  ²⁷ sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.

[7:1]  ²⁸ sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

[7:1]  ²⁹ sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).

[7:1]  ³⁰ sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).

[7:1]  ³¹ sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.

[16:1]  ³² sn The month Abib, later called Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7), corresponds to March-April in the modern calendar.

[16:1]  ³³ tn Heb “in the month Abib.” The demonstrative “that” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[16:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “sacrifice the Passover” (so NASB). The word “animal” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[34:4]  ³⁷ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[34:4]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew text includes “with your eyes,” but this is redundant in English and is left untranslated.

[34:6]  ³⁹ tc Smr and some LXX mss read “they buried him,” that is, the Israelites. The MT reads “he buried him,” meaning in the context that “the Lord buried him.” This understanding, combined with the statement at the end of the verse that Moses’ burial place is unknown, gave rise to traditions during the intertestamental period that are reflected in the NT in Jude 9 and in OT pseudepigraphic works like the Assumption of Moses.

[34:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “dimmed.” The term could refer to dull appearance or to dimness caused by some loss of visual acuity.

[34:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “sap.” That is, he was still in possession of his faculties or liveliness.