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.*

4 Further, they tore down the altars of the Baʹals in his presence, and he cut down the incense stands that were up above them. He also broke into pieces the sacred poles,* the graven images, and the metal statues* and reduced them to powder and sprinkled it over the graves of those who used to sacrifice to them.+