He stretched out the form ¹  of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind ²  lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem ³  by means of divine visions, to the door of the inner gate which faces north where the statue ⁴  which provokes to jealousy was located.

Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he ¹  has forbidden ²  you.

He also removed Maacah his grandmother ¹  from her position as queen because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her Asherah pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

A blacksmith works with his tool ¹  and forges metal over the coals. He forms it ²  with hammers; he makes it with his strong arm. He gets hungry and loses his energy; ³  he drinks no water and gets tired.

This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away. He will be like a clay vessel ¹  that no one wants. ²  Why will he and his children be forced into exile? Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about? ³ 

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery ¹  against their God.

But if someone says to you, “This is from a sacrifice,” do not eat, because of the one who told you and because of conscience ¹  –

Your enemies roar ¹  in the middle of your sanctuary; ²  they set up their battle flags. ³ 

They made him angry with their pagan shrines, ¹  and made him jealous with their idols.

He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold. He uses hammer and nails to fasten it ¹  together so that it will not fall over.

They set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own ¹  and defiled it.

“When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

you built yourself a chamber ¹  and put up a pavilion ²  in every public square.

I will uproot your images of Asherah ¹  from your midst, and destroy your idols. ² 

After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, ¹  if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind ²  and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, ³ 

When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate ¹  this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” ² 

The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish ¹  said to their kinsmen, ²  “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.”

You must not profane my holy name, and I will be sanctified in the midst of the Israelites. I am the Lord who sanctifies you,

They worshiped ¹  Micah’s carved image ²  the whole time God’s authorized shrine ³  was in Shiloh.

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