Discovery Box2 Kings 18:4 
Context18:4 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 18:22
Context18:22 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’
2 Kings 21:3
Context21:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky 4 and worshiped 5 them.
2 Kings 23:5
Context23:5 He eliminated 6 the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices 7 on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices 8 to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)
2 Kings 23:8
Context23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined 9 the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. 10 He tore down the high place of the goat idols 11 situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.
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.
sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, 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. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
2 tn Heb “until those days.”
3 tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”
4 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:16.
5 tn Or “served.”
6 tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”
7 tn Or “burn incense.”
8 tn Or “burned incense.”
9 tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
10 sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
11 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.
