When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole ¹  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

So David asked the Lord what he should do. ¹  This time ²  the Lord ³  said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees. ⁴ 

So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and executed Joab; ¹  he was buried at his home in the wilderness.

Furthermore, ¹  on the hill east of Jerusalem ²  Solomon built a high place ³  for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh ⁴  and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. ⁵ 

There were also male cultic prostitutes ¹  in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations ²  that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

He removed the male cultic prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the disgusting idols ¹  his ancestors ²  had made.

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.

He tore down the quarters ¹  of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines ²  for Asherah.

These were the areas where Aaron’s descendants lived: ¹  The following belonged to the Kohathite clan, for they received the first allotment: ² 

The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten cities in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh. ¹ 

The clans of Gershom’s descendants received thirteen cities within the territory of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh (in Bashan). ¹ 

The clans of Merari’s descendants were allotted twelve cities within the territory of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. ¹ 

Some of them were in charge of the equipment and articles of the sanctuary, ¹  as well as the flour, wine, olive oil, incense, and spices.

Zadok the priest and his fellow priests served ¹  before the Lord’s tabernacle at the worship center ²  in Gibeon,

They also took care of ¹  the bread that is displayed, the flour for offerings, the unleavened wafers, the round cakes, the mixing, and all the measuring. ² 

They and their relatives, all of them skilled and trained to make music to the Lord, numbered two hundred eighty-eight. ¹ 

On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had dedicated the altar for seven days and celebrated the festival for seven more days.

He was committed to following the Lord; ¹  he even removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

Nevertheless you have done some good things; ¹  you removed ²  the Asherah poles from the land and you were determined to follow the Lord.” ³ 

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