He must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for him to make atonement ¹  on his behalf.

You can present them to the Lord as an offering of first fruit, ¹  but they must not go up to the altar for a soothing aroma.

“Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, the anointing oil, the sin offering bull, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread,

Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹  cut down their sacred Asherah poles, ²  and burn up their idols.

The other man said, ¹  “Without a doubt this symbolizes ²  the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

Ahab also made an Asherah pole; he ¹  did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

He said, “Get some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now pour some out for the men so they may eat.” ¹  There was no longer anything harmful in the pot.

But they did not repudiate ¹  the sinful ways of the family ²  of Jeroboam, who encouraged Israel to sin; they continued in those sins. ³  There was even an Asherah pole ⁴  standing in Samaria.

David said to Solomon: “My son, I really wanted ¹  to build a temple to honor ²  the Lord my God.

He will build a temple to honor me; ¹  he will become my son, and I will become his father. I will grant to his dynasty permanent rule over Israel.’ ² 

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

“These people ¹  have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah ²  and melt in fear over Rezin and the son of Remaliah. ³ 

Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me ¹  are reminders and object lessons ²  in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

They will no longer trust in ¹  the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. ² 

Later the Lord explained, “In the same way that my servant Isaiah has walked around in undergarments and barefoot for the past three years, as an object lesson and omen pertaining to Egypt and Cush,

You take olive oil as tribute ¹  to your king, ²  along with many perfumes. ³  You send your messengers to a distant place; you go all the way to Sheol. ⁴ 

“Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ¹  of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity.

On that day you will be able to speak again; ¹  you will talk with the fugitive and be silent no longer. You will be an object lesson for them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

They ¹  have destroyed our ²  vines; ³  they have turned our ⁴  fig trees into mere splinters. They have completely stripped off the bark ⁵  and thrown them aside; the ⁶  twigs are stripped bare. ⁷