“ The people of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes,” announces the Lord.“ They have set up statues of their gods. They have worshiped them in the house where my Name is. They have made my house‘ unclean.’ I hate those statues.

耶和华说：“犹大人行我眼中看为恶的事，将可憎之物设立在称为我名下的殿中，污秽这殿。

“犹大人行我眼中看为恶的事，将可憎之偶像立在称为我名下的殿里，玷污这殿。这是耶和华说的。

“犹大人行我眼中看为恶的事，将可憎之偶像立在称为我名下的殿里，玷污这殿。这是耶和华说的。

耶和华说：“犹大人做了我视为邪恶的事，把可憎的偶像放在用来敬拜我的圣殿中，玷污了圣殿。

“因为犹大人行了我看为恶的事，把他们可憎的偶像安放在称为我名下的殿中，污渎了这殿。”这是耶和华的宣告。

耶和華說：「猶大人行我眼中看為惡的事，將可憎之物設立在稱為我名下的殿中，污穢這殿。

「猶大人行我眼中看為惡的事，將可憎之偶像立在稱為我名下的殿裏，玷污這殿。這是耶和華說的。

「猶大人行我眼中看為惡的事，將可憎之偶像立在稱為我名下的殿裏，玷污這殿。這是耶和華說的。

耶和華說：「猶大人做了我視為邪惡的事，把可憎的偶像放在用來敬拜我的聖殿中，玷污了聖殿。

“因為猶大人行了我看為惡的事，把他們可憎的偶像安放在稱為我名下的殿中，污瀆了這殿。”這是耶和華的宣告。

『因為猶大人行我所看為壞的事，把他們可憎之像立在稱為我名下的殿中，來污瀆它：這是永恆主發神諭說的。

耶和華曰、猶大人行我所惡、以其可憎者、置於我寄名之室、俾染污衊、

耶和華曰、猶大子孫犯罪於我、置可惡之物於殿、使籲我名之所、咸染污衊、

主曰、猶大人行惡於我前、以可惡之物、置於為我名而建之殿、使我殿染以污穢、

“‘ The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.

“ For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.

“ The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the Lord.“ They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it.

“ For the Judeans have done what is evil in my sight.” This is the LORD’s declaration.“ They have set up their abhorrent things in the house that bears my name in order to defile it.

For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord.“ They have put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.

For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord.“ They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.

For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, saith Jehovah: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

“ For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight.” This is the Lord’s declaration.“ They have set up their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and defiled it.

For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

The LORD says,“ I have rejected them because the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own and have defiled it.

“ For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says Yahweh.“ They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

They set up the hateful statues of their gods. They did it in the house where I have put my Name. They made my house‘ unclean.’

My people were so proud of their beautiful jewelry. They used it to make statues of their evil gods. I hate those gods. So I will turn their jewelry into an“ unclean” thing for them.

He built altars in the Lord’ s temple. The Lord had said about his temple,“ My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”In the two courtyards of the Lord’ s temple Manasseh built altars to honor all the stars in the sky.

Manasseh had carved a pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. He put it in the temple. The Lord had spoken to David and his son Solomon about the temple. He had said,“ My Name will be in this temple and in Jerusalem forever. Out of all the cities in the tribes of Israel I have chosen Jerusalem.

He built altars in the Lord’ s temple. The Lord had said about his temple,“ I will put my Name there in Jerusalem.”

A covenant will be put into effect with many people for one‘ week.’ In the middle of the‘ week’ sacrifices and offerings will come to an end. And at the temple a hated thing that destroys will be set up. It will remain until that ruler who will come is destroyed. Then he will experience what the Lord has ordered.”

Manasseh had carved a statue of a god. He put it in God’s temple. God had spoken to David and his son Solomon about the temple. He had said,“ My Name will be in this temple and in Jerusalem forever. Out of all the cities in the tribes of Israel I have chosen Jerusalem.

Then the Lord said to me,“ Son of man, look toward the north.” So I did. I saw a statue that made God angry. It was in the entrance of the gate north of the altar.He said to me,“ Son of man, do you see what the Israelites are doing here? They are doing things I hate very much. Those things will cause me to go far away from my temple. But you will see things I hate even more.”Then he brought me to the entrance to the courtyard. I looked up and saw a hole in the wall.He said to me,“ Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I did. And I saw a door there.He continued,“ Go through it. Look at the evil things they are doing here. I hate those things.”So I went in and looked. All over the walls were pictures of all kinds of crawling things and“ unclean” animals. The Lord hates it when people worship those things. There were also carvings of the gods of the people of Israel.In front of them stood 70 elders of Israel. Jaazaniah was standing there among them. He is the son of Shaphan. Each elder was holding a shallow cup. A sweet- smelling cloud of incense was rising from the cups.The Lord spoke to me. He said,“ Son of man, do you see what the elders of Israel are doing in the dark? Each of them is in his own room worshiping his own god. They say,‘ The Lord doesn’t see us. He has deserted the land.’ ”He continued,“ You will see them doing things I hate even more.”Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’ s house. I saw women sitting there. They were mourning for the god named Tammuz.The Lord said to me,“ Son of man, do you see what they are doing? You will see things I hate even more.”Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’ s house. About 25 men were there. They were at the entrance to the Lord’ s temple between the porch and the altar. Their backs were turned toward the temple. Their faces were turned toward the east. And they were bowing down to the sun.He said to me,“ Son of man, have you seen all of this? The people of Judah are doing things here that I hate. This is a very serious matter. They are harming one another all through the land. They continue to make me very angry. Just look at them making fun of me!

“ Prophets and priests alike are ungodly,” announces the Lord.“ Even in my temple I find them sinning.

Certain things in the Lord’ s temple had been made to honor other gods. They were the god named Baal, the female god named Asherah and all the stars in the sky. The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest to remove those things. The king ordered the priests who were next in rank and the men who guarded the doors to help Hilkiah. Josiah took those things that had been in the Lord’ s temple and burned them outside Jerusalem. He burned them in the fields in the Kidron Valley. And he took the ashes to Bethel.Josiah got rid of the priests who served other gods. The kings of Judah had appointed those priests to burn incense. They burned the incense on the high places of the towns of Judah. And they burned it on the high places around Jerusalem. They burned incense to honor Baal and the sun and moon. They burned it to honor all the stars.Josiah removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’ s temple. It had been used to worship the female god named Asherah. He took it to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. There he burned it. He ground it into powder. And he scattered it over the graves of the ordinary people.

He said,“ Son of man, this is the place where my throne is. The stool for my feet is also here. I will live here among the people of Israel forever. They will never again treat my name as if it were not holy. They and their kings will not serve other gods anymore. The people will no longer make funeral offerings for their kings.The people of Israel placed their own doorway next to my holy doorway. They put their doorposts right beside mine. Nothing but a thin wall separated us. They treated my name as if it were not holy. I hated it when they did that. So I became angry with them and destroyed them.

Manasseh got rid of the false gods. He removed the statue of one of those gods from the Lord’ s temple. He also removed all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem. He threw them out of the city.

He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had set up. They had put them on the palace roof near the upstairs room of Ahaz. Josiah also pulled down the altars Manasseh had built. They were in the two courtyards of the Lord’ s temple. Josiah removed the altars from there. He smashed them to pieces. Then he threw the broken pieces into the Kidron Valley.