Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Hezekiah, king of Judah, is executing a religious reform immediately after the text characterizes him as doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD like his father David (2 Kings 18:3).
The words — The Hebrew verb הֵסִיר (he.Sir) translates literally to "he removed," and הַ/בָּמֹ֗ת (ha./ba.Mot) denotes "the high places," identifying the specific elevated worship sites targeted for destruction.
The thread — The dismantling of sacred pillars echoes the nationwide action recorded in 2 Chronicles 31:1, while the bronze serpent Nehushtan originates from the wilderness incident in Numbers 21:8.
Why it lands — The text states Hezekiah ordered the demolition of the bronze serpent because the Israelites had burned incense to it up to that time, distinguishing its original purpose from its later misuse.
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
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
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.
- Numbers 21:8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”
- 2 Kings 18:22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
- 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.
- Leviticus 26:30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 12:2 Destroy 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.
- Judges 6:25 On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
- Judges 6:28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar.
- 1 Kings 3:2 The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built.