For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:
Parallel translations
- WEB for he took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles,
- BSB He removed the foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and chopped down the Asherah poles.
- NKJV for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images.
- NASB for he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the memorial stones, cut down the Asherim,
- NLT He removed the foreign altars and the pagan shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Asa removes foreign altars, high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles. He actively tears down idolatry rather than merely tolerating reform.
Overview
Asa's reforms target the apparatus of Canaanite and foreign worship that repeatedly seduced Israel. Breaking down pillars and cutting Asherah poles fulfills the law's command to destroy false worship and guard exclusive devotion to Yahweh. Such cleansing prefigures the heart-purification Christ works in His people, removing idols so God alone is worshiped.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Deut 7:5But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
- 2 Kgs 23:14And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
- Exod 34:13But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
- 1 Kgs 15:12–14And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- 2 Chr 15:17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
- 2 Kgs 23:6And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
- 1 Kgs 11:7–8Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
- Deut 7:25The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.
- 2 Kgs 18:4He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
- 1 Kgs 14:22–24And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.
- Judg 6:25–28And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:
- Lev 26:30And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
- 2 Chr 34:4And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
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Temple, priesthood, and the repeated need for a faithful king who seeks the LORD all point past every imperfect reign to the King and Temple who finally and fully dwell with God's people.
How 2 Chronicles 14:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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