Now after Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he had the gods of the men of Seir brought and installed as his gods. He prostrated himself before them and burned incense to them.
Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and not allowed to go with him to battle raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-Horon. They struck down 3,ooo of them and took considerable spoils.
He even sacrificed to the gods of Damascus after he had been defeated, for he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them and they will help me.” But they caused the downfall of him and all Israel.
Then it is something for a man to burn. so he takes one of them and warms himself. He also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it. He makes an idol and bows before it.
No one reflects in his heart, with no knowledge or discernment to say, “I burned half of it in the fire and I also baked bread on its coals. I roasted meat and ate—and then I make the rest of it an abomination? Should I bow before a block of wood?”
Thus says Adonai: “For three crimes of Judah even for four, I will not relent. For they despise Adonai’s Torah and have not kept His statutes. Their lies have misled them— those their fathers walked after.
“The carved images of their gods you are to burn with fire. You are not to covet the silver or gold on them or take it for yourself—or you could be snared by it, for it is an abomination to Adonai your God.
Instead, you are to deal with them like this: tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images with fire.