“Therefore you will say to them, ¹  ‘When you offer up ²  the best of it, then it will be credited to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the winepress.

Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹  cut down their sacred Asherah poles, ²  and burn up their idols.

you must by all means ¹  slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate ²  with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock.

When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged, ¹  though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!’” ² 

When the Israelites turned around, the Benjaminites panicked ¹  because they could see that disaster was on their doorstep. ² 

King David dedicated these things to the Lord, ¹  along with the dedicated silver and gold that he had taken from ²  all the nations that he had subdued,

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.

He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah pole, and filled those shrines ¹  with human bones.

After Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah visited the king and declared their loyalty to him. ¹  The king listened to their advice. ² 

and to all the infants, wives, sons, and daughters of the entire assembly listed in the genealogical records, for they faithfully consecrated themselves.

Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

He tears me down ¹  on every side until I perish; ²  he uproots ³  my hope ⁴  like one uproots ⁵  a tree.

My strength drains away like water; ¹  all my bones are dislocated; my heart ²  is like wax; it melts away inside me.

Their grave becomes their permanent residence, their eternal dwelling place. ¹  They name their lands after themselves, ² 

Let them disappear ¹  like water that flows away! ²  Let them wither like grass! ³ 

Do not strike them dead suddenly, because then my people might forget the lesson. ¹  Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down, O Lord who shields us! ² 

adrift ¹  among the dead, like corpses lying in the grave, whom you remember no more, and who are cut off from your power. ² 

Although an assailant may overpower ¹  one person, two can withstand him. Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.

before the silver cord is removed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the well, ¹  or the water wheel ²  is broken at the cistern –

They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. ¹  Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.” ²