He sacrificed all the priests of the high places on the altars located there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Hezekiah is the one who eliminated ¹  the Lord’s ²  high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, “At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.”

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.

In the year of King Uzziah’s death, ¹  I saw the sovereign master ²  seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.

They went up to the temple, ¹  the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. ²  Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, ³  Moab wails. Every head is shaved bare, every beard is trimmed off. ⁴ 

When the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places, ¹  and enter their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective! ² 

Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’

My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.

The high places of the “House ¹  of Wickedness” ²  will be destroyed; it is the place where Israel sins. Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

But Simon Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, ¹  and brought Peter inside.

Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; ¹  you have done great things. ²  O God, who can compare to you? ³ 

and on the mountains and in the fields. ¹  I will give your wealth and all your treasures away as plunder. I will give it away as the price ²  for the sins you have committed throughout your land.

Then ¹  the winepress was stomped ²  outside the city, and blood poured out of the winepress up to the height of horses’ bridles ³  for a distance of almost two hundred miles. ⁴ 

When they heard this, they entered the temple courts ¹  at daybreak and began teaching. ²  Now when the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin ³  – that is, the whole high council ⁴  of the Israelites ⁵  – and sent to the jail to have the apostles ⁶  brought before them. ⁷ 

And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. ¹ 

They replied, “Yes, straight ahead! But hurry now, for he came to the town today, and the people are making a sacrifice at the high place.

Solomon and the entire assembly went to the worship center ¹  in Gibeon, for the tent where they met God ²  was located there, which Moses the Lord’s servant had made in the wilderness.

Look, your fasting is accompanied by ¹  arguments, brawls, and fistfights. ²  Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

They have built places here ¹  for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices ²  are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!

All this is because of Jacob’s rebellion and ¹  the sins of the nation ²  of Israel. How has Jacob rebelled, you ask? ³  Samaria epitomizes their rebellion! ⁴  Where are Judah’s pagan worship centers, you ask? ⁵  They are right in Jerusalem! ⁶