Thematic Bible: Iconoclasm


Thematic Bible



And you shall make no treaty with those who live in this land. You shall throw down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. What is this that you have done?

But you shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their sacred poles.

But you shall deal with them in this way: you shall destroy their altars and break down their images, and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire.

You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them. And you shall not do according to their works. But you shall surely pull them down, and surely you shall smash their images.

then you shall drive out all those who live in the land from before you, and destroy all their carved images, and destroy all their molded images and pluck down all their high places.

Declare among the nations, and cause them to hear, and lift up a banner. Cause them to hear, do not hide it; say, Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is broken in pieces; her images are shamed, her idols are broken in pieces.

You shall burn the graven images of their gods with fire. You shall not desire the silver or gold on them, nor take it for yourself, so that you may not be snared in it. For it is an abomination to Jehovah your God. And you shall not bring an abomination into your house, lest you be a cursed thing like it. You shall utterly hate it, and you shall utterly despise it. For it is a cursed thing.

These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to do in the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers gives you to possess it, all the days that you live upon the earth. You shall completely destroy all the places in which the nations which you shall possess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall overthrow their altars and break their pillars, and burn their pillars with fire. And you shall cut down the carved images of their gods, and destroy their names out of that place. read more.
You shall not do so to Jehovah your God.


And they left their gods there. And David commanded, and they were burned with fire.

And they left their images there, and David and his men took them away.


For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and broke down the images, and cut down the Asherahs. And he commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the Law and the commandment. He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images. And the kingdom was quiet before him.

And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim. And he renewed the altar of Jehovah before the porch of Jehovah. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon. For they fell to him out of Israel in great numbers, when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him. And they gathered to Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. read more.
And they offered to Jehovah in that day part of the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul, and that whoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they swore to Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with ram's horns. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire. And He was found by them, and Jehovah gave them rest all around. And also as to Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen mother, because she had made an idol in a grove. And Asa cut down her idol and stamped it and burned it at the torrent Kidron.


But there are good things found in you, in that you have taken away the Asherahs out of the land and have prepared your heart to seek God.

And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah. And he took away the high places and Asherahs out of Judah.


And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal and burned them. And they broke down the image of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal and made it a sewer-house until this day. And Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.


And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels which were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel. And he put down the idol-worshiping priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem. He also put down those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the heavens. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah outside Jerusalem, to the torrent Kidron, and burned it at the torrent Kidron, and stamped it to powder, and threw the powder of it on the graves of the sons of the people. read more.
And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, which were by the house of Jehovah, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates which were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. But the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they ate of the unleavened bread among their brothers. And he defiled Topheth, in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, so that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of Jehovah, by the room of Nathan-melech the eunuch, which was in the suburbs. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars which were on the top of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made, and the two courts of the house of Jehovah, the king beat them down, and broke them down from there. And he threw the dust of them into the torrent Kidron. And the high places which were before Jerusalem on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled. And he broke the images in pieces, and cut down the Asherahs, and filled their places with the bones of men. And also the altar which was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down, and burned the high place; he stamped it to powder, and burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned, he spied the tombs which were there in the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the Word of Jehovah which the man of God had proclaimed, who spoke these words. And he said, What monument is that which I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him alone; let no one move his bones. And they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And also all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Jehovah to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts which he had done in Bethel. And he killed all the priests of the high places which were there on the altars, and burned men's bones on them, and returned to Jerusalem.


And it happened, as he came near to the camp and saw the calf and dances, the anger of Moses became hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them at the bottom of the mountain. And he took the calf which they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and dropped it upon the water, and made the sons of Israel drink of it.


And he did the right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made; for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it. And he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in Jehovah, the God of Israel, and after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. read more.
For he clung to Jehovah. He did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses.


And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the pillar which was by it was cut down, and the second bull had been offered upon the altar that was built. And they said to one another, Who has done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing. Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son so that he may die (because he had cast down the altar of Baal, and because he had cut down the pillar by it). read more.
And Joash said to all that stood against him, Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? He who contends for him shall be killed by the morning. If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because one has cast down his altar. And on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him because he has thrown down his altar.


And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the house of Jehovah, and in Jerusalem, and threw them out of the city.


And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and broke it down. They broke his altars and his images completely in pieces. And they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Jehovah.


Then Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods among you, and be clean, and change your garments. And let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave all the strange gods which were in their hands to Jacob, and the earrings in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.


And they arose and took away the altars in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense they took away, and threw them into the torrent Kidron.