He removed the pagan altars ¹  and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. ² 

He also built high places on the hills of Judah; he encouraged the residents of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the Lord ¹  and led Judah away from the Lord. ² 

On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, ¹  who fill the house of their master ²  with wealth taken by violence and deceit. ³ 

The people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

He burned the bones of the pagan priests ¹  on their altars; he purified Judah and Jerusalem.

All these had taken foreign wives, and some of them also had children by these women. ¹ 

They made him angry with their pagan shrines, ¹  and made him jealous with their idols.

For all the nations of the world pursue ¹  these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

He eliminated ¹  the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices ²  on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices ³  to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)

“I will attack ¹  Judah and all who live in Jerusalem. ²  I will remove ³  from this place every trace of Baal worship, ⁴  as well as the very memory ⁵  of the pagan priests. ⁶ 

If ¹  he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If ²  he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like ³  a Gentile ⁴  or a tax collector. ⁵ 

they observed the practices ¹  of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before Israel, and followed the example of the kings of Israel. ² 

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations ²  whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my home.” ¹ 

He removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. The kingdom had rest under his rule. ¹ 

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations ²  whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

and on the first day of the first month they finished considering all the men who had married foreign wives.

(though the father did not do any of them). ¹  He eats pagan sacrifices on the mountains, ²  defiles his neighbor’s wife,

So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” ¹