The Passover Feast came to an end. The people of Israel who were in Jerusalem went out to the towns of Judah. They smashed the sacred stones. They cut down the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. They destroyed the high places and the altars. They did those things all through Judah and Benjamin. They also did them in Ephraim and Manasseh. They destroyed all the objects used to worship other gods. Then the Israelites returned to their own towns and property.

这事既都完毕，在那里的以色列众人就到犹大的城邑，打碎柱像，砍断木偶，又在犹大、便雅悯、以法莲、玛拿西遍地将邱坛和祭坛拆毁净尽。于是以色列众人各回各城，各归各地。

这一切事都完毕以后，在那里的以色列众人就到犹大的城镇，打碎柱像，砍断亚舍拉，又在犹大、便雅悯、以法莲、玛拿西遍地把丘坛和祭坛完全拆毁。于是以色列众人各回各城，各归自己产业的地去了。

这一切事都完毕以后，在那里的以色列众人就到犹大的城镇，打碎柱像，砍断亚舍拉，又在犹大、便雅悯、以法莲、玛拿西遍地把丘坛和祭坛完全拆毁。于是以色列众人各回各城，各归自己产业的地去了。

当一切都办妥后，所有在场的以色列人就前往犹大各城邑，打碎神柱，砍倒亚舍拉神像，又拆毁犹大、便雅悯、以法莲、玛拿西境内所有的丘坛和祭坛，然后各自返回自己的城邑和家园。

这一切都作完了，所有在那里的以色列人就都出去，到犹大的各城，打碎神柱，砍下亚舍拉；又在犹大、便雅悯、以法莲和玛拿西各地，把邱坛和祭坛完全拆毁。然后以色列众人都各回各城，各归自己的地业去了。

這事既都完畢，在那裏的以色列眾人就到猶大的城邑，打碎柱像，砍斷木偶，又在猶大、便雅憫、以法蓮、瑪拿西遍地將邱壇和祭壇拆毀淨盡。於是以色列眾人各回各城，各歸各地。

這一切事都完畢以後，在那裏的以色列眾人就到猶大的城鎮，打碎柱像，砍斷亞舍拉，又在猶大、便雅憫、以法蓮、瑪拿西遍地把丘壇和祭壇完全拆毀。於是以色列眾人各回各城，各歸自己產業的地去了。

這一切事都完畢以後，在那裏的以色列眾人就到猶大的城鎮，打碎柱像，砍斷亞舍拉，又在猶大、便雅憫、以法蓮、瑪拿西遍地把丘壇和祭壇完全拆毀。於是以色列眾人各回各城，各歸自己產業的地去了。

當一切都辦妥後，所有在場的以色列人就前往猶大各城邑，打碎神柱，砍倒亞舍拉神像，又拆毀猶大、便雅憫、以法蓮、瑪拿西境內所有的邱壇和祭壇，然後各自返回自己的城邑和家園。

這一切都作完了，所有在那裡的以色列人就都出去，到猶大的各城，打碎神柱，砍下亞舍拉；又在猶大、便雅憫、以法蓮和瑪拿西各地，把邱壇和祭壇完全拆毀。然後以色列眾人都各回各城，各歸自己的地業去了。

這一切事既已作完，所有在場的以色列眾人就都出去、到猶大各城市，把崇拜柱子打碎，將亞舍拉神木砍下；又從猶大、便雅憫、以法蓮、瑪拿西遍地、將邱壇和祭壇全都拆毁；於是以色列眾人都回本城，各歸自己的地業去。

此事既畢、在彼之以色列眾咸出、往猶大諸邑、碎其柱像、斫其木偶、毀其崇邱與壇、在猶大便雅憫以法蓮瑪拿西諸地、盡除滅之、以色列人乃返故邑、各歸其業、

祀事既畢、以色列眾往猶大、便雅憫、以法蓮、馬拿西諸邑、毀偶像、伐林木、廢崇坵、拆祭壇、滅之務盡、然後歸。

此事既畢、所有以色列眾、往猶大諸邑、毀偶像、斫諸亞舍拉、在猶大、便雅憫、以法蓮、瑪拿西遍地、廢崇邱、拆祭壇、滅之淨盡、然後以色列人眾各返故邑、各歸其業、

When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, every man to his possession.

When the festival ended, the Israelites who attended went to all the towns of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, and they smashed all the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and removed the pagan shrines and altars. After this, the Israelites returned to their own towns and homes.

When all this was completed, all Israel who had attended went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, to the last one. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own possession.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, broke the memorial stones in pieces, cut down the Asherim and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned to their cities, each to his possession.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the sacred pillars in pieces, cut down the wooden images, and threw down the high places and the altars— from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh— until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and brake down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

When all this was completed, all Israel who had attended went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, to the last one. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own possession.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

When all this was over, the Israelites who were in the cities of Judah went out and smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished all the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Then all the Israelites returned to their own homes in their cities.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, also in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

Hezekiah removed the high places. He smashed the sacred stones. He cut down the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made. Up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. They called it Nehushtan.

Didn’t Hezekiah himself remove your god’s high places and altars? Didn’t Hezekiah say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem,“ You must worship at one altar. You must burn sacrifices on it”?

“ Go. Gather together all the Jews who are in Susa. And fast for my benefit. Don’t eat or drink anything for three days. Don’t do it night or day. I and my attendants will fast just as you do. Then I’ll go to the king. I’ll do it even though it’s against the law. And if I have to die, I’ll die.”

While he was still young, he began to worship the God of King David. It was the eighth year of Josiah’s rule. In his 12th year Josiah began to get rid of the high places in Judah and Jerusalem. He removed the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. He also removed the statues of other false gods.He ordered the altars of the gods that were named Baal to be torn down. Josiah cut to pieces the altars above them that were used for burning incense. He smashed the Asherah poles. He also smashed the statues of other false gods. Josiah broke all of them to pieces. He scattered the pieces over the graves of those who had offered sacrifices to those gods.He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. That’s the way he made Judah and Jerusalem pure and“ clean.”Josiah went to the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon. He went all the way to Naphtali. He also went to the destroyed places around all those towns.Everywhere Josiah went he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles. He crushed the statues of gods to powder. He cut to pieces all the altars for burning incense. He destroyed all those things everywhere in Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

The sun was coming up. So the angels tried to get Lot to leave. They said,“ Hurry up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out! If you don’t, you will be swept away when the city is destroyed.”

Hoshea did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. But he wasn’t as evil as the kings of Israel who ruled before him.

He went up to the Lord’ s temple. The people of Judah and Jerusalem went with him. So did the priests and prophets. All of them went, from the least important of them to the most important. The king had all the words of the Book of the Covenant read to them. The book had been found in the Lord’ s temple.The king stood next to his pillar. He agreed to the terms of the covenant in front of the Lord. The king promised to serve the Lord and obey his commands, directions and rules. He promised to obey them with all his heart and with all his soul. So he agreed to the terms of the covenant written down in that book. Then all the people committed themselves to the covenant as well.Certain things in the Lord’ s temple had been made to honor other gods. They were the god named Baal, the female god named Asherah and all the stars in the sky. The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest to remove those things. The king ordered the priests who were next in rank and the men who guarded the doors to help Hilkiah. Josiah took those things that had been in the Lord’ s temple and burned them outside Jerusalem. He burned them in the fields in the Kidron Valley. And he took the ashes to Bethel.Josiah got rid of the priests who served other gods. The kings of Judah had appointed those priests to burn incense. They burned the incense on the high places of the towns of Judah. And they burned it on the high places around Jerusalem. They burned incense to honor Baal and the sun and moon. They burned it to honor all the stars.Josiah removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’ s temple. It had been used to worship the female god named Asherah. He took it to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. There he burned it. He ground it into powder. And he scattered it over the graves of the ordinary people.He also tore down the rooms where the male temple prostitutes stayed. Those rooms were in the Lord’ s temple. Women had made cloth for Asherah in them.Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and destroyed the high places. He destroyed them from Geba all the way to Beersheba. The priests had burned incense on them. Josiah broke down the gate at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua. It was on the left side of Jerusalem’s city gate. Joshua was the city governor.The priests of the high places didn’t serve at the Lord’ s altar in Jerusalem. In spite of that, they ate with the other priests. All of them ate bread made without yeast.Josiah destroyed the high place at Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He didn’t want anyone to use the high place to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to the god named Molek.Josiah removed the statues of horses from the entrance to the Lord’ s temple. The kings of Judah had set them apart to honor the sun. The statues were in the courtyard. They were near the room of an official named Nathan- Melek. Josiah burned the chariots that had been set apart to honor the sun.He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had set up. They had put them on the palace roof near the upstairs room of Ahaz. Josiah also pulled down the altars Manasseh had built. They were in the two courtyards of the Lord’ s temple. Josiah removed the altars from there. He smashed them to pieces. Then he threw the broken pieces into the Kidron Valley.The king also destroyed the high places that were east of Jerusalem. They were at the southern end of the Mount of Olives. They were the ones Solomon, the king of Israel, had built. He had built a high place for worshiping Ashtoreth. She was the evil female god of the people of Sidon. Solomon had also built one for worshiping Chemosh. He was the evil god of Moab. And Solomon had built one for worshiping Molek. He was the god of the people of Ammon. The Lord hated that god.Josiah smashed the sacred stones. He cut down the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. Then he covered all those places with human bones.There was an altar at Bethel. It was at the high place made by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit sin. Even that altar and high place were destroyed by Josiah. He burned the high place. He ground it into powder. He also burned the Asherah pole.Then Josiah looked around. He saw the tombs on the side of the hill. He had the bones removed from them. And he burned them on the altar to make it“ unclean.” That’s what the Lord had said would happen. He had spoken that message through a man of God. The man had announced those things long before they took place.The king asked,“ What’s that stone on the grave over there?” The people of the city said,“ It marks the tomb where the man of God is buried. He came from Judah. He spoke against the altar at Bethel. He announced the very things you have done to it.”“ Leave it alone,” Josiah said.“ Don’t let anyone touch his bones.” So they spared his bones. They also spared the bones of the prophet who had come from the northern kingdom of Israel.Josiah did in the rest of the northern kingdom the same things he had done at Bethel. He removed all the small temples at the high places. He made them“ unclean.” The kings of Israel had built them in the towns of the northern kingdom. The people in those towns had made the Lord very angry.Josiah killed all the priests of those high places on the altars. He burned human bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

Do not do what they do. Do not bow down to their gods or worship them. You must destroy the statues of their gods. You must break their sacred stones to pieces.

Hezekiah sent a message to all the people of Israel and Judah. He also wrote letters to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. He invited everyone to come to the Lord’ s temple in Jerusalem. He wanted them to celebrate the Passover Feast to honor the Lord. He is the God of Israel.The king, his officials and the whole community in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover Feast in the second month.They hadn’t been able to celebrate it at the regular time. That’s because there weren’t enough priests who had set themselves apart to the Lord. Also, the people hadn’t gathered together in Jerusalem.The plan seemed good to the king and the whole community.They decided to send a message all through Israel. It was sent out from Beersheba all the way to Dan. The message invited the people to come to Jerusalem. It invited them to celebrate the Passover Feast to honor the Lord, the God of Israel. The Passover Feast hadn’t been celebrated by large numbers of people for a long time. It hadn’t been done in keeping with what was written in the law.Messengers went all through Israel and Judah. They carried letters from the king and his officials. The king had ordered them to do that. The letters said,“ People of Israel, return to the Lord. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Return to him. Then he will return to you who are left in the land. You have escaped from the power of the kings of Assyria.Don’t be like your parents and the rest of your people. They weren’t faithful to the Lord, the God of their people. That’s why he punished them. He made them look so bad that everyone was shocked when they saw them. You can see it for yourselves.Don’t be stubborn. Don’t be as your people were. Obey the Lord. Come to his temple. He has set it apart to himself forever. Serve the Lord your God. Then he’ll stop being angry with you.Suppose you return to the Lord. Then those who captured your relatives and children will be kind to them. In fact, your relatives and children will come back to this land. The Lord your God is kind and tender. He won’t turn away from you if you return to him.”The messengers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh. They went all the way to Zebulun. But people laughed and made fun of them.In spite of that, some people from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun made themselves humble. They went to Jerusalem.God helped the people of Judah. He helped them agree with one another. So they did what the king and his officials had ordered. They did what the Lord told them to do.A very large crowd of people gathered together in Jerusalem. They went there to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It took place in the second month.They removed the altars in Jerusalem. They cleared away the altars for burning incense. They threw all the altars into the Kidron Valley.They killed the Passover lamb on the 14th day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed of how they had lived. They set themselves apart to the Lord. They brought burnt offerings to his temple.Then they did their regular tasks just as the Law of Moses, the man of God, required. The Levites gave the blood of the animals to the priests. The priests splashed it against the altar.Many people in the crowd hadn’t set themselves apart to the Lord. They weren’t“ clean.” They couldn’t set apart their lambs to him. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all of them.Many people came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun. Most of them hadn’t made themselves pure and“ clean.” But they still ate the Passover meal. That was against what was written in the law. But Hezekiah prayed for them. He said,“ The Lord is good. May he forgive everyonewho wants to worship God with all their heart. God is the Lord, the God of their people. May God forgive them even if they aren’t‘ clean’ in keeping with the rules of the temple.”The Lord answered Hezekiah’s prayer. He healed the people.The people of Israel who were in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They celebrated for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests praised the Lord every day. They praised the Lord with loud musical instruments. The instruments had been set apart to the Lord.Hezekiah spoke words that gave hope to all the Levites. They understood how to serve the Lord well. For the seven days of the feast they ate the share given to them. They also sacrificed friendship offerings. They praised the Lord, the God of their people.Then the whole community agreed to celebrate the feast for seven more days. So for another seven days they celebrated with joy.Hezekiah, the king of Judah, provided 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep and goats for the community. The officials provided 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep and goats for them. A large number of priests set themselves apart to the Lord.The entire community of Judah was filled with joy. So were the priests and Levites. And so were all the people who had gathered together from Israel. That included the outsiders who had come from Israel. It also included those who lived in Judah.There was great joy in Jerusalem. There hadn’t been anything like it in Israel since the days of Solomon, the son of David. Solomon had been king of Israel.The priests and Levites gave their blessing to the people. God heard them. Their prayer reached all the way to heaven. It’s the holy place where God lives.

Asa removed the altars where false gods were worshiped. He took away the high places. He smashed the sacred stones. He cut down the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah.

The fire of the Lord came down. It burned up the sacrifice. It burned up the wood and the stones and the soil. It even dried up the water in the ditch.All the people saw it. Then they fell down flat with their faces toward the ground. They cried out,“ The Lord is the one and only God! The Lord is the one and only God!”Then Elijah commanded them,“ Grab the prophets of Baal. Don’t let a single one of them get away!” So they grabbed them. Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley. There he had them put to death.

All the people went to Baal’s temple. They tore it down. They smashed the altars and the statues of gods. They killed Mattan in front of the altars. He was the priest of Baal.

So here is what you must do to those people. Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Cut down the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah. Burn the statues of their gods in the fire.