1 Kings 3:2

1 Kings 3:2 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days.
• New International Version (NIV)The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord.
• English Standard Version (ESV)The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

Context of 1 Kings 3:2

1Solomon made an agreement with Pharaoh, who was the king of Egypt. Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter. He brought her to live in the City of David. She lived there until Solomon could finish building his own house, the Lord's temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. Because there was not yet a temple where people could give honour to the Lord, they offered sacrifices at altars in other places. 3Solomon loved the Lord and he obeyed the rules of his father David. But he offered sacrifices and he burned incense at altars in country places. 4The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices there. That was the place where the most important altar was. Solomon offered burnt offerings a thousand times on the altar there.

1 Kings 3:2 word by word

רַ֣ק הָעָ֔ם מְזַבְּחִ֖ים בַּבָּמ֑וֹת כִּ֠י לֹא־נִבְנָ֥ה בַ֙יִת֙ לְשֵׁ֣ם יְהוָ֔ה עַ֖ד הַיָּמִ֥ים הָהֵֽם׃ פRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Only the peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• sacrificedזָבַחzâbach · to sacrificeH2076
• in high placesבָּמָהbâmâh · high placeH1116
• because there was no houseבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: homeH1004
• builtבָּנָהbânâh · to buildH1129
• unto the nameשֵׁםshêm · nameH8034
• of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• until those daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117

Cross-references for 1 Kings 3:2

• 1 Kings 1:3So they looked through all the land of Israel for a beautiful young woman. They chose Abishag, who lived in Shunem. They brought her to the king.
• 1 Kings 22:43Jehoshaphat lived in the good way that his father Asa had lived. He only did things that the Lord says are right. But he did not remove all the altars that were on the hills. People continued to offer sacrifices on those altars and they continued to burn incense there.
• Leviticus 17:3If a person sacrifices a bull, a sheep or a goat in the fields, that is a sin. Or if a person sacrifices it in the camp, that is a sin.
• Leviticus 26:30The Lord will destroy the places where they worship false gods. He will destroy their very bad incense altars. He will put their dead bodies round their idols. He will hate them.
• Deuteronomy 12:2You will chase out the nations who live there. Then you must destroy completely all the places where those people worship their gods. Those places are on the tops of mountains and hills, and under big green trees.
• 2 Chronicles 33:17The people still offered sacrifices at the other altars in the country. But they only offered those sacrifices to the Lord their God.
• 1 Kings 5:3‘You know that my father David could not build a temple for the Lord his God. This was because he had to fight battles against enemies that were all around Israel. He did that until the Lord helped him to win against all of them.
• 1 Chronicles 17:4‘Go and tell my servant David, “The Lord says this: You are not the right man to build a house for me to live in.
• 1 Chronicles 28:3But God said to me, “You are a fighter and you have killed many people in war. So you must not build a house to give honour to my name.”
• Acts 7:47But it was David's son, Solomon, who built a house for God.

Commentaries on 1 Kings 3:2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2The people sacrificed in high places - Could there be any sin in this, or was it unlawful till after the temple was built? for prophets, judges, the kings which preceded Solomon, and Solomon himself, sacrificed on high places, such as Gibeon, Gilgal, Shiloh, Hebron, Kirjath-jearim, etc. But after the temple was erected, it was sinful to offer sacrifices in any other place; yet here it is introduced as being morally wrong, and it is introduced, 1 Kings…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2The word “only” introduces a contrast. The writer means to say that there was one exception to the flourishing condition of things which he has been describing, namely, that “the people sacrificed in high-places.” (Compare the next verse.) The Law did not forbid “high-places” directly, but only by implication. It required the utter destruction of all the high-places which had been polluted by idolatrous rites Deuteronomy 12:2; and the injunction to offer…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-3The ark of the covenant was in David's tent in Jerusalem before the temple was built. During this time, people made sacrifices at local worship sites (see study note on 1 Kings 8:1). This practice reduced unified worship at a central place (1 Kings 12:1–24). It also increased the risk of adopting Canaanite religious practices. Worshiping at these local sites was forbidden for Israel (Deuteronomy 12:1–14).Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Kings 3:2

• High Places
• Prayer

In the dictionaries

• Affinity
• Divide
• Solomon
• Yearn
• Abishag
• City
• Criticism
• God
• High Place
• Israel, History of

Commentaries on 1 Kings 3

• 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