Bible Verses Instructing The Israelites To Destroy Idols, False gods, Altars And Pillars
These verses highlight God's command to the Israelites to completely rid the land of all idolatrous practices and symbols, emphasizing His desire for exclusive worship and purity among His people.
From the Torah
1. Exodus 23:24
"You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars."
2. Exodus 34:13-14
"But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)."
3. Deuteronomy 7:5
"But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire."
4. Deuteronomy 7:25-26
"You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing."
5. Deuteronomy 12:2-3
"You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place."
From the Prophets
6. Judges 2:2
"And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars." But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?"
7. 1 Kings 18:40
"And Elijah said to them, 'Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!' So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there."
8. 2 Kings 18:4
"He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan."
9. 2 Chronicles 14:3
"For he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images."
10. Isaiah 17:7-8
"In that day a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands; he will not respect what his fingers have made, nor the wooden images nor the incense altars."