2 Kings 21:3

2 Kings 21:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
• New International Version (NIV)He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, and made a wooden image, as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

Context of 2 Kings 21:3

1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah. 2And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel. And he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars to Baal and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5And he built altars to all the host of heaven in both courts of the house of Jehovah.

2 Kings 21:3 word by word

וַיָּ֗שָׁב וַיִּ֙בֶן֙ אֶת־הַבָּמ֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִבַּ֖ד חִזְקִיָּ֣הוּ אָבִ֑יו וַיָּ֨קֶם מִזְבְּחֹ֜ת לַבַּ֗עַל וַיַּ֤עַשׂ אֲשֵׁרָה֙ כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֗ה אַחְאָב֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיִּשְׁתַּ֙חוּ֙ לְכָל־צְבָ֣א הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וַֽיַּעֲבֹ֖ד אֹתָֽם׃Read the interlinear

• builtבָּנָהbânâh · to buildH1129
• highבָּמָהbâmâh · high placeH1116
• Hezekiahחִזְקִיָּהוּchizqîyâh chizqîyâhû yechizqîyâh yechizqîyâhû · HezekiahH2396
• fatherאָב'âb · fatherH1
• destroyedאָבַד'âbad · to perishH6
• altarsמִזְבֵּחַmizbêach · altarH4196
• Baalבַּעַלba‛al · BaalH1168
• madeעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
• Asherahאֲשֵׁרָה'ăshêrâh 'ăshêyrâh · AsherahH842
• Ahabאַחְאָב'ach'âb 'echâb · AhabH256
• kingמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
• Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
• hostצָבָאtsâbâ' tsebâ'âh · armyH6635
• heavenשָׁמַיִםshâmayim shâmeh · heavenH8064
• servedעָבַד‛âbad · to serveH5647

Cross-references for 2 Kings 21:3

• 2 Kings 18:4He removed the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and broke in pieces the serpent of brass that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
• 2 Chronicles 32:12Has not the same Hezekiah removed his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?
• 2 Chronicles 34:3And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherahs, and the graven images, and the molten images.
• 2 Kings 10:18And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little: Jehu will serve him much.
• 1 Kings 16:31And it came to pass, as if it was a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshipped him.
• 1 Kings 18:21Then Elijah drew near to all the people, and said, How long do ye halt between two opinions? if Jehovah be God, follow him; and if Baal, follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
• 2 Kings 8:18And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah.
• Micah 6:16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and ye walk in their counsels: that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing; and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
• 2 Kings 17:16And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them molten images, two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of the heavens, and served Baal;
• 2 Kings 23:4And the king commanded Hilkijah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.
• Deuteronomy 4:19and lest thou lift up thine eyes to the heavens, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, the whole host of heaven, and be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath assigned unto all peoples under the whole heaven.
• Deuteronomy 17:3and goeth and serveth other gods, and boweth down to them, either to the sun or to the moon, or to the whole host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
• 2 Chronicles 33:3And he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.
• Job 31:26If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,

Commentaries on 2 Kings 21:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Made a grove - He made Asherah, the Babylonian Melitta or Roman Venus. See 2 Kings 17:10, and the observations at the end of that chapter; and see here on 2 Kings 21:7; (note). Worshipped all the host of heaven - All the stars and planets, but particularly the sun and the moon.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3The first step in the re-establishment of idolatry seems to have been the restoration of the high places where Yahweh was professedly worshipped 2 Kings 18:22, but with idolatrous rites 1 Kings 14:23. The next was to re-introduce the favorite idolatry of Israel, Baal-worship, which had formerly flourished in Judaea under Athaliah 2 Kings 11:18, and Ahaz 2 Chronicles 28:2. After this, Manasseh seems to have especially affected Sabaism, which had been…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-5Manasseh turned away from his faith by rebuilding local pagan shrines that his father had destroyed (2 Kings 18:3). He also encouraged evil religious practices linked to Baal worship and set up an Asherah pole (see 2 Kings 18:3; 1 Kings 16:32) and brought back the worship of stars. God had judged the northern kingdom for these sins (2 Kings 17:16).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-182Ki 21:1-18. Manasseh's Wicked Reign, and Great Idolatry. 1-3. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign--He must have been born three years after his father's recovery; and his minority, spent under the influence of guardians who were hostile to the religious principles and reforming policy of his father, may account in part for the anti-theocratic principles of his reign. The work of religious reformation which Hezekiah had zealously carried…Read the comment

Topics related to 2 Kings 21:3

• Baal
• Groves
• Idolatry
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Manasseh
• Rulers
• Stars

In the dictionaries

• Ahab
• Baal
• Hezekiah
• Israel
• Israel, Israelites
• Jacob, Israel
• Host of heaven
• Kings, The Books of
• Prey
• Stars

Commentaries on 2 Kings 21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings