Hezekiah welcomed ¹  them and showed them his whole storehouse, with its silver, gold, spices, and high quality olive oil, as well as his armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom. ² 

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 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.)

Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the royal accountant and they saw there was a lot of silver, the royal scribe and the accountant of the high priest emptied the chest and then took it back to its place. They went through this routine every day and collected a large amount of silver.

When all this was over, the Israelites ¹  who were in the cities of Judah went out and smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished ²  all the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. ³  Then all the Israelites returned to their own homes in their cities. ⁴ 

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.

They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the silver that had been brought to God’s temple. The Levites who guarded the door had collected it from the people of ¹  Manasseh and Ephraim and from all who were left in Israel, as well as from all the people of ²  Judah and Benjamin and the residents of ³  Jerusalem.

And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she met with his loving approval ¹  more than all the other young women. ²  So he placed the royal high turban on her head and appointed her queen ³  in place of Vashti.

Haman’s ¹  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ²  high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.” ³  It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.

Harbona, ¹  one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Indeed, there is the gallows that Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke out in the king’s behalf. It stands near Haman’s home and is seventy-five feet ²  high.” The king said, “Hang him on it!”

If you see the extortion ¹  of the poor, or the perversion ²  of justice and fairness in the government, ³  do not be astonished by the matter. For the high official is watched by a higher official, ⁴  and there are higher ones over them! ⁵ 

Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, ¹  like one of the large sacred trees ²  or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. ³  That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” ⁴ 

Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹  ‘With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, ²  its thickest woods.

Hezekiah welcomed ¹  them and showed them his storehouse with its silver, gold, spices, and high-quality olive oil, as well as his whole armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom. ² 

For this is what the high and exalted one says, the one who rules ¹  forever, whose name is holy: “I dwell in an exalted and holy place, but also with the discouraged and humiliated, ²  in order to cheer up the humiliated and to encourage the discouraged. ³ 

“Indeed, ¹  long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. ²  You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ ³  Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. ⁴ 

When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. ¹  You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. ² 

“Then, Jeremiah, ¹  make the following prophecy ²  against them: ‘Like a lion about to attack, ³  the Lord will roar from the heights of heaven; from his holy dwelling on high he will roar loudly. He will roar mightily against his land. ⁴  He will shout in triumph like those stomping juice from the grapes ⁵  against all those who live on the earth.

Then Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official, ¹  and all the other officers of the king of Babylon came and set up quarters ²  in the Middle Gate. ³