Don’t set up a wooden pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. Don’t set it up beside the altar you build to worship the Lord your God.Don’t set up a sacred stone to honor another god. The Lord your God hates Asherah poles and sacred stones.
To make room for you, I am going to drive out the nations that are in the land. You must not follow the practices of those nations. I hated those nations because they did all those things.
They will be destroyed to make room for you. But when they are destroyed, be careful. Don’t be trapped. Don’t ask questions about their gods. Don’t say,“ How do these nations serve their gods? We’ll do it in the same way.”You must not worship the Lord your God the way they worship their gods. When they worship, they do all kinds of evil things the Lord hates. They even burn up their children in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
If you don’t destroy them, they’ll teach you to do all the things the Lord hates. He hates the way they worship their gods. If you do those things, you will sin against the Lord your God.
