1 Kings 15:12

1 Kings 15:12 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
• New International Version (NIV)He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made.
• English Standard Version (ESV)He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
• New King James Version (NKJV)And he banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

Context of 1 Kings 15:12

10Asa ruled in Jerusalem as king for 41 years. His grandmother was Maakah. She was the daughter of Abishalom. 11Asa did things that pleased the Lord, as his ancestor King David had done. He removed the male prostitutes from the altars on the hills. He sent them out of Judah. He removed all the useless idols that his ancestors had made. 13He also told his grandmother Maakah that she could no longer have authority as the Queen Mother. This was because she had made a disgusting Asherah pole to worship. Asa cut down the Asherah pole and he burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14Asa did not remove the altars on all the hills, but he served the Lord faithfully for his whole life.

1 Kings 15:12 word by word

וַיַּעֲבֵ֥ר הַקְּדֵשִׁ֖ים מִן־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיָּ֙סַר֙ אֶת־כָּל־הַגִּלֻּלִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשׂ֖וּ אֲבֹתָֽיו׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And he took awayעָבַר‛âbar · to passH5674
• the sodomitesקָדֵשׁqâdêsh · male cult prostituteH6945
• out of the landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
• and removedסוּרsûr ώûr · to turn aside: removeH5493
• all the idolsגִּלּוּלgillûl gillûl · idolH1544
• that his fathersאָב'âb · fatherH1
• had madeעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to makeH6213

Cross-references for 1 Kings 15:12

• 1 Kings 14:24In Judah there were even temples which had male prostitutes. The people of Judah did the same evil things as the Canaanite nations did. The Lord had chased those people out of the land so that the Israelites could live there.
• 1 Kings 22:46He also removed the male prostitutes who lived near the special altars. His father Asa had removed many of them when he ruled as king. Jehoshaphat removed those who were still there.
• Romans 1:26Because those people turned against God, he let those bad things rule their lives. They strongly wanted to do things that they should be ashamed about. Even the women stopped having sex in a way which is proper. Instead, they began to have sex with other women, which is not proper.
• Jude 1:7Also, remember what happened to the cities called Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities that were near them. Like those bad angels, the people who lived in those places were also doing evil things. They were having sex with people who were not their husbands or their wives. They liked to have sex in other ways that are not right. God destroyed their cities. He has punished them with fire that never stops burning. That is an example of what will happen to wicked people like them.
• 1 Kings 15:3Abijah did the same bad things that his father had done before him. He did not serve the Lord his God faithfully, as his ancestor King David had done.
• 1 Kings 11:7On a hill east of Jerusalem Solomon built a place to worship false gods. He worshipped Chemosh, the wicked god of the Moabite people, and Molech, the wicked god of the Ammonite people.
• 1 Kings 14:23They built altars on the hills for themselves. They put up stone pillars and Asherah poles to worship. They did this on every high hill and under every big tree.
• 2 Chronicles 14:2Asa did things that pleased the Lord his God.
• Ezekiel 20:18I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not live in the bad way that your fathers did. Do not obey their rules. Do not worship their idols and make yourselves unclean.
• Zechariah 1:2This was the Lord's message: ‘I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors.
• 1 Peter 1:18Your ancestors lived in a way that did not make them really happy. That is the way that you learned to live as well. But now God has saved you from that way of life. You know that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things that do not continue for ever, like silver or gold.

Commentaries on 1 Kings 15:12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12The sodomites - הקדשים hakkedeshim ; literally, the holy or consecrated ones. See on 1 Kings 14:24; (note).Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 9-24Verses 9-24 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 11-13did what was right: Besides the reforms mentioned here, the writer of Chronicles notes the positive spiritual influence of God's prophet Azariah on the king (2 Chronicles 15:1–7). Asa also gathered a large assembly to renew the covenant with the Lord (2 Chronicles 15:9–15). shrine prostitutes: See 1 Kings 14:23–24. Asa worked to limit idolatry and pagan fertility rituals, even removing Maacah from her powerful position as queen mother (1 Kings 15:13; 2…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 10-1310-13. his mother's name was Maachah--She was properly his grandmother, and she is here called "the king's mother," from the post of dignity which at the beginning of his reign she possessed. Asa, as a constitutional monarch, acted like the pious David, laboring to abolish the traces and polluting practices of idolatry, and in pursuance of his impartial conduct, he did not spare delinquents even of the highest rank.Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Kings 15:12

• Asa
• Idolatry
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Maachah
• Rulers
• Sodomites
• Sodomy
• Zeal, Religious

In the dictionaries

• Asa
• Baasha
• Proclamation
• Sodomites
• Abishag
• Chemosh
• Crime; Crimes
• God
• Harlot
• Male

Commentaries on 1 Kings 15

• 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
• 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