Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 31:1
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 Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own property.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative follows Hezekiah’s religious reforms, recording the Israelites’ collective response immediately after the king’s directives are completed.
The words — וּכְכַלּ֣וֹת (u/khe/kha.Lot) translates as “and just as finished,” marking the immediate trigger for the campaign. יָצְא֨וּ (ya.tze.'U) means “they went out,” denoting the organized departure to execute the destruction.
The thread — The systematic removal of high places and Asherah poles parallels the earlier reforms in 2 Kings 18:4 and the later warnings in 2 Chronicles 32:12, while the motif of departure at daybreak echoes Genesis 19:15.
Why it lands — The text records a complete physical eradication of idolatrous sites before the people return to their own properties, demanding a clear boundary between covenant obedience and ordinary life.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 18:4 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 it.
- 2 Chronicles 32:12 Did not Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn sacrifices’?
- Genesis 19:15 At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
- Exodus 23:24 You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
- Deuteronomy 7:5 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.
- 1 Kings 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench.
- 2 Kings 17:2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.
- 2 Kings 23:2 And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.
- 2 Chronicles 14:3 He removed the foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and chopped down the Asherah poles.
- 2 Chronicles 23:17 So all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.