Thematic Bible: Idolatry of


Thematic Bible



And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, even worse than all who went before him. And as if copying the evil ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was a small thing for him, he took as his wife Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidon, and became a servant and worshipper of Baal. And he put up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he had made in Samaria. read more.
And Ahab made an image of Asherah and did more than all the kings of Israel before him to make the Lord, the God of Israel, angry.

Then he said in answer, I have not been troubling Israel, but you and your family; because, turning away from the orders of the Lord, you have gone after the Baals. Now send, and get Israel together before me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal who get their food at Jezebel's table.

(There was no one like Ahab, who gave himself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moved to it by Jezebel his wife. He did a very disgusting thing in going after false gods, doing all the things the Amorites did, whom the Lord sent out before the children of Israel.)


He did a very disgusting thing in going after false gods, doing all the things the Amorites did, whom the Lord sent out before the children of Israel.)

And I said to you, I am the Lord your God; you are not to give worship to the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but you did not give ear to my voice.



And I let the stones go from my hands, and they were broken before your eyes. And I went down on my face before the Lord, as at the first, for forty days and forty nights, without taking food or drinking water, because of all your sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and moving him to wrath. For I was full of fear because of the wrath of the Lord which was burning against you, with your destruction in view. But again the Lord's ear was open to my prayer. read more.
And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same time. And I took your sin, the image which you had made, and put it in the fire and had it hammered and crushed very small till it was only dust: and the dust I put in the stream flowing down from the mountain.


And he made offerings and had perfumes burned in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

And he took me to the door of the open place; and looking, I saw a hole in the wall. And he said to me, Son of man, make a hole in the wall: and after making a hole in the wall I saw a door. And he said to me, Go in and see the evil and disgusting things which they are doing here. read more.
So I went in and saw; and there every sort of living thing which goes flat on the earth, and unclean beasts, and all the images of the children of Israel, were pictured round about on the wall.


And he put up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he had made in Samaria.

But still they did not give up the sin of Jeroboam, which he made Israel do, but went on with it; and there was an image of Asherah in Samaria.)


And in all the towns of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naphtali, he made waste their houses round about.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king; he was ruling in Jerusalem for thirty-one years. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father David, without turning to the right hand or to the left. In the eighth year of his rule, while he was still young, his heart was first turned to the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he undertook the clearing away of all the high places and the pillars and the images of wood and metal from Judah and Jerusalem. read more.
He had the altars of the Baals broken down, while he himself was present; and the sun-images which were placed on high over them he had cut down; and the pillars of wood and the metal images he had broken up and crushed to dust, dropping the dust over the resting-places of the dead who had made offerings to them. And he had the bones of the priests burned on their altars, and so he made Judah and Jerusalem clean. And in all the towns of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naphtali, he made waste their houses round about. He had the altars and the pillars of wood pulled down and the images crushed to dust, and all the sun-images cut down, through all the land of Israel, and then he went back to Jerusalem.


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain