Then you will get rid of the silver statues of your gods. You won’t have anything to do with the gold statues either. All of them are“ unclean.” So you will throw them away like dirty rags. You will say to them,“ Get away from us!”

你雕刻偶像所包的银子和铸造偶像所镀的金子，你要玷污，要抛弃，好像污秽之物，对偶像说：“去吧！”

你要玷污那雕刻偶像所包的银子和铸造偶像所镀的金子。你要抛弃它们，如抛弃污秽之物；对偶像说：“去吧！”

你要玷污那雕刻偶像所包的银子和铸造偶像所镀的金子。你要抛弃它们，如抛弃污秽之物；对偶像说：“去吧！”

你们必抛弃自己那些镀金包银的偶像，把它们当作污秽之物丢掉，对它们说：“去吧！”

你要抛弃你那些包着银的雕像和镀了金的铸像，如同污秽之物一般抛弃它们，又对它们说：“去吧！”

你要羞辱你那些包银的雕像和镀金的铸像，要抛弃它们如同抛弃污秽之物，要对它们说：“给我出去！”

你雕刻偶像所包的銀子和鑄造偶像所鍍的金子，你要玷污，要拋棄，好像污穢之物，對偶像說：「去吧！」

你要玷污那雕刻偶像所包的銀子和鑄造偶像所鍍的金子。你要拋棄它們，如拋棄污穢之物；對偶像說：「去吧！」

你要玷污那雕刻偶像所包的銀子和鑄造偶像所鍍的金子。你要拋棄它們，如拋棄污穢之物；對偶像說：「去吧！」

你們必拋棄自己那些鍍金包銀的偶像，把它們當作污穢之物丟掉，對它們說：「去吧！」

你要拋棄你那些包著銀的雕像和鍍了金的鑄像，如同污穢之物一般拋棄它們，又對它們說：“去吧！”

你那包銀的雕像和鍍金的鑄像、你們都要作為俗用，都要撒掉，如同月經布；對它說：『去吧！』

你要羞辱你那些包銀的雕像和鍍金的鑄像，要拋棄它們如同拋棄汙穢之物，要對它們說：「給我出去！」

爾必衊爾雕像所飾之銀、鑄像所包之金、擲之若穢物、謂之曰去、

爾之偶像、飾以金銀、爾必視之為污衊、若不潔之布、去之惟恐不遠、

爾之偶像、或雕或鑄、飾以金銀者、其時爾必視為視為或作使之污穢、棄之如不潔之物、必曰、此物當擲之於外、

Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them,“ Away with you!”

Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them,“ Be gone!”

Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them,“ Good riddance!”

Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.

And you will desecrate your carved images plated with silver, and your cast metal images plated with gold. You will scatter them as a filthy thing, and say to them,“ Be gone!”

You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, And the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; You will say to them,“ Get away!”

And ye shall defile the overlaying of thy graven images of silver, and the plating of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as an unclean thing; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.

Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

You will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag, saying to them,“ Get out!”

You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as an unclean thing. You shall tell it,“ Go away!”

Some people pour out gold from their bags. They weigh out silver on the scales. They hire someone who works with gold to make it into a god. They bow down to it and worship it.

He gave the 28 pounds of silver back to his mother. She said to him,“ I’m making a promise to set apart my silver to the Lord. My son, I want you to use it to cover a statue of a god made out of wood or stone. That’s why I’ll give the silver back to you.”Micah gave the silver back to his mother. Then she gave five pounds of it to a skilled worker who made things out of silver. He used the silver for the statue. The statue was put in Micah’s house.

You sinned when you made your gods out of silver and gold. The time will come when all of you will turn away from them.

Ephraim will have nothing more to do with other gods. I will answer the prayers of my people. I will take good care of them. I will be like a healthy juniper tree to them. All the fruit they bear will come from me.”

Zion reaches out her hands. But no one is there to comfort her people. The Lord has ordered that the neighbors of Jacob’s people would become their enemies. Jerusalem has become impure among them.

“ At that time I will destroy your war horses,” announces the Lord.“ I will smash your chariots.I will destroy the cities in your land. I will tear down all your forts.I will destroy your worship of evil powers. You will no longer be able to put a spell on anyone.I will destroy the statues of your gods. I will take your sacred stones away from you. You will no longer bow down to the gods your hands have made.I will pull down the poles you used to worship the female god named Asherah. That will happen when I completely destroy your cities.

Aaron answered them,“ Take the gold earrings off your wives, your sons and your daughters. Bring the earrings to me.”So all the people took off their earrings. They brought them to Aaron.He took what they gave him and made it into a metal statue of a god. It looked like a calf. Aaron shaped it with a tool. Then the people said,“ Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.”

But the beast and the false prophet were captured. The false prophet had done signs for the beast. In this way the false prophet had tricked some people. Those people had received the mark of the beast and had worshiped its statue. The beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the lake of fire. The lake of fire burns with sulfur.

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.

You will remember your evil ways and the sinful things you have done. You will hate yourselves because you have sinned so much. I also hate your evil practices.

In days to come, people will look to their Maker for help. They will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.They won’t trust in the altars they made with their own hands. They won’t pay any attention to the poles they used to worship the female god named Asherah. And they won’t depend on the incense altars they made with their own fingers.

“ On that day I will remove the names of other gods from the land. They will not even be remembered anymore,” announces the Lord who rules over all.“ I will drive the evil prophets out of the land. I will get rid of the spirit that put lies in their mouths.

The people of Jacob will have to pay for their sin. Here is how they will show that their sin has been removed. They will make all the altar stones like limestone. They will crush them to pieces. No poles used to worship the female god named Asherah will be left standing. No incense altars will be left either.

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.

People had made some statues of gods out of silver. They had made others out of gold. Then they worshiped them. But when the Lord comes, they will throw the statues away to the moles and bats.Those people will run and hide in caves in the rocks. They will go into holes in the cliffs. They will run away from the terrifying presence of the Lord. They will run when he comes in glory and majesty. When he comes, he will shake the earth.

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.

And he does not eat at the mountain temples. He does not worship the statues of Israel’s gods. He does not sleep with another man’s wife. He does not have sex with his own wife during her monthly period.