"Therefore, as I live"-- [this is] the declaration of the Lord God-- "I am going to cut [you] off and show [you] no pity, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable practices and abominations. Yes, I will not spare [you].

He stretched out what appeared to be a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the inner gate that faces north, where the offensive statue that provokes jealousy was located.

The LORD said to me, "Son of man, look toward the north." I looked to the north, and there was this offensive statue north of the altar gate, at the entrance.

Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked there was a hole in the wall.

He said to me, "Go in and see the terrible abominations they are committing here."

Seventy elders from the house of Israel were standing before them, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had an incense burner in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising up.

Again He said to me, "You will see even greater abominations, which they are committing."

And He said to me, "Do you see [this], son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these."

On the same day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, that is what they did inside My house.

When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to occupy My sanctuary, you defiled My temple while you offered My food-- the fat and the blood. You broke My covenant with all your abominations.

He took the bronze altar that was before the LORD in front of the temple between [his] altar and the LORD's temple, and put it on the north side of [his] altar.

Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, "Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering. [Also offer] the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of sacrifice. The bronze altar will be for me to seek guidance."

He would build altars in the LORD's temple, where the LORD had said, "Jerusalem is where I will put My name."

He made his son pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a great amount of evil in the LORD's sight, provoking [Him].

He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. [They had been] at the entrance of the LORD's temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech the court official, and he burned up the chariots of the sun.

The king tore down the altars that were on the roof-- Ahaz's upper chamber that the kings of Judah had made-- and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the LORD's temple. Then he smashed them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

He built altars in the LORD's temple, where the LORD had said: "Jerusalem is where My name will remain forever."

Manasseh set up a carved image of the idol he had made, in God's temple, about which God had said to David and his son Solomon: "I will establish My name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.