And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.
Parallel translations
- WEB They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the altars for incense and threw them into the brook Kidron.
- BSB They proceeded to remove the altars in Jerusalem and to take away the incense altars and throw them into the Kidron Valley.
- NKJV They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook Kidron.
- NASB They got up and removed the altars which were in Jerusalem; they also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the brook Kidron.
- NLT They set to work and removed the pagan altars from Jerusalem. They took away all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
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
The assembled people removed the pagan altars in Jerusalem and threw the incense altars into the Kidron brook. It matters because true worship required first putting away idolatry.
Overview
Genuine repentance moved the people to action: they cleansed Jerusalem of its idolatrous altars before celebrating the feast. Casting them into the Kidron decisively marked a break with false worship. This reminds us that turning to God means turning from idols, a renunciation that finds its full freedom in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 2 Chr 28:24And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
- 2 Sam 15:23And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.
- 2 Chr 15:16And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
- 2 Chr 29:16And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.
- Isa 2:18–20And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
- 2 Kgs 23:12–13And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
- John 18:1When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
- 2 Kgs 18:22But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
- 2 Chr 34:7And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
- 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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Christ at the center
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 30:14 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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