Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 34:7
He tore down the altars and Asherah poles, crushed the idols to powder, and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Josiah acts in the territories of Israel after clearing the northern regions, completing his campaign before returning to Jerusalem.
The words — כִּתַּת (ki.Tat) means he crushed, and לְ/הֵדַ֔ק (le./he.Dak) means to pulverize, describing the physical reduction of the idols to dust.
The thread — This destruction pattern appears in 2 Chronicles 31:1 when Israelites break sacred pillars, and echoes Deuteronomy 9:21 where Moses reduces the golden calf to powder.
Why it lands — It demands the complete removal of syncretistic worship sites and the cessation of idolatrous practices before any temple restoration can proceed.
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
And 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.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 9:21 And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.
- 2 Chronicles 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.