They abandoned the temple of the Lord God of their ancestors, ¹  and worshiped ²  the Asherah poles and idols. Because of this sinful activity, God was angry with Judah and Jerusalem.

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky ¹  and worshiped ²  them.

he tore down the altars and Asherah poles, demolished the idols, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

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 

They put him in a collar with hooks; ¹  they brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him to prison ²  so that his voice would not be heard any longer on the mountains of Israel.

And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches. ¹ ) ² 

It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark ¹  were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

Also, anything they fall on ¹  when they die will become unclean – any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water ²  and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean.

That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. ¹  Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.

When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw ¹  the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar.

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 

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 ¹  and worshiped ²  them.

He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. ¹  He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. ² 

He also tore down the altar in Bethel ¹  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. ²  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. ³ 

The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself. ¹ 

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor ¹  David. In his twelfth year he began ridding ²  Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images.

He ordered the altars of the Baals to be torn down, ¹  and broke the incense altars that were above them. He smashed the Asherah poles, idols and images, crushed them up and sprinkled the dust over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them.

So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ¹  and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ²  They will make all the stones of the altars ³  like crushed limestone, and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ⁴ 

They say to a wooden idol, ¹  ‘You are my father.’ They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ ²  Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ³  Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

The altar was of wood, 5¼ feet ¹  high, with its length 3½ feet; ²  its corners, its length, ³  and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”