18 In the third year of Ho·sheʹa+ the son of Eʹlah the king of Israel, Hez·e·kiʹah+ the son of King Aʹhaz+ of Judah became king.

4 He was the one who removed the high places,+ smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the sacred pole.*+ He also crushed the copper serpent that Moses had made;+ for down to that time the people of Israel had been making sacrificial smoke to it and it used to be called the copper serpent-idol.*

31 As soon as they had finished all of this, all the Israelites who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and they smashed the sacred pillars,+ cut down the sacred poles,*+ and tore down the high places+ and the altars+ throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Eʹphra·im and Ma·nasʹseh,+ until they had destroyed them completely, after which all the Israelites returned to their cities, each one to his own possession.