Deuteronomy 12:3 “Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Ashe…”

Deuteronomy 12:3

Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James Version

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

World English Bible

You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place.

American Standard Version

and ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place.

Geneva Bible 1599

Also ye shall ouerthrowe their altars, and breake downe their pillars, and burne their groues with fire: and ye shall hew downe ye grauen images of their gods, and abolish their names out of that place.

Darby Translation

and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place.

Young's Literal Translation

and ye have broken down their altars, and shivered their standing pillars, and their shrines ye burn with fire, and graven images of their gods ye cut down, and have destroyed their name out of that place.

Bible in Basic English

Their altars and their pillars are to be broken down, and their holy trees burned with fire, and the images of their gods cut down; you are to take away their names out of that place.

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Cross references

“ye shall”

Numbers 33:52 Judges 2:2 2 Chronicles 31:1

Numbers 33:52 · BSB

you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

Judges 2:2 · BSB

and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?

2 Chronicles 31:1 · BSB

When all this had ended, the Israelites in attendance went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjami…

“and burn”

1 Kings 15:13 2 Kings 18:4 2 Kings 23:14 2 Chronicles 19:3 2 Chronicles 34:3 Jeremiah 17:2

1 Kings 15:13 · BSB

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

2 Kings 18:4 · BSB

He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to…

2 Kings 23:14 · BSB

He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.

2 Chronicles 19:3 · BSB

However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart on seeking God.”

2 Chronicles 34:3 · BSB

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carv…

Jeremiah 17:2 · BSB

Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles by the green trees and on the high hills.

“and destroy”

Zechariah 13:2 Psalm 16:4 Exodus 23:13 Hosea 2:17 Revelation 13:1

Zechariah 13:2 · BSB

And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.

Psalm 16:4 · BSB

Sorrows will multiply to those who chase other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood, or speak their names with my lips.

Exodus 23:13 · BSB

Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

Hosea 2:17 · BSB

For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.

Revelation 13:1 · BSB

Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. There were ten royal crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.

Also

Deuteronomy 7:5

Deuteronomy 7:5 · BSB

Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

2Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

4You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.

Read Deuteronomy 12