2 Kings 23:7

2 Kings 23:7 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
• New International Version (NIV)He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.
• English Standard Version (ESV)And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.

Context of 2 Kings 23:7

5He removed the priests who served false gods. The kings of Judah had chosen those priests to make offerings at the altars on the hills. They were on the hills in Judah's cities and all around Jerusalem. These priests offered sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, to the moon and to all the stars in the sky. 6He also removed the Asherah pole from the Lord's temple. He took it outside Jerusalem, to the Kidron Valley. He burned it there. He made its ashes into dust. He threw the dust over the graves of ordinary people. King Josiah also destroyed the rooms in the Lord's temple where the male prostitutes lived. Women also made clothes there for the idol of Asherah. 8He brought from the towns of Judah all the priests who served false gods. He destroyed the altars on the hills where those priests offered sacrifices. He did that everywhere in Judah, from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the altar that was on the left side of one of Jerusalem city's gates. It was called the Gate of Joshua. Joshua was an officer who had authority over the city. 9The priests who served at those altars did not have authority to serve at the altar in the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. But they could eat the same flat bread that the other priests ate.

2 Kings 23:7 word by word

וַיִּתֹּץ֙ אֶת־בָּתֵּ֣י הַקְּדֵשִׁ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּבֵ֣ית יְהוָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר הַנָּשִׁ֗ים אֹרְג֥וֹת שָׁ֛ם בָּתִּ֖ים לָאֲשֵׁרָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And he brake downנָתַץnâthats · to tearH5422
• the housesבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: homeH1004
• of the sodomitesקָדֵשׁqâdêsh · male cult prostituteH6945
• by the houseבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: templeH1004
• of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• where the womenאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · womanH802
• woveאָרַג'ârag · to weaveH707
• hangingsבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: containerH1004
• for the groveאֲשֵׁרָה'ăshêrâh 'ăshêyrâh · AsherahH842

Cross-references for 2 Kings 23:7

• Genesis 19:4After that, they were preparing to go to bed. Then all the men who lived in Sodom came to Lot's house. They were old men and young men, who came from every part of the city. They stood all round the house.
• 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 15:12He 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.
• 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.
• 2 Chronicles 34:33Josiah removed all the disgusting idols from all the land of the Israelites. He told all the people of Israel to worship the Lord their God. All the time that Josiah ruled as king, the people continued to worship the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
• 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.
• Exodus 35:25All the women who knew how to make things used their hands to make material. They brought what they had made: blue, purple and red material and good linen.
• Ezekiel 8:14Then he took me to entrance at the north gate of the temple. I saw some women who were sitting there. They were weeping because the god Tammuz was dead.
• Ezekiel 16:16You used some of your clothes to give honour to idols. You made their altars beautiful. You had sex with those men there on your beautiful cloths. Those things should never happen!
• Hosea 2:13I will punish her because she burned incense to the idols of Baal. I will punish her because she made herself beautiful with jewels when she went to sleep with her lovers. I will punish her because she did those things but she forgot about me. That is what the Lord says.

Commentaries on 2 Kings 23:7

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7The houses of the sodomites - We have already often met with these קדשים kedeshim or consecrated persons. The word implies all kinds of prostitutes, as well as abusers of themselves with mankind. Wove hangings for the grove - For Asherah; curtains or tent coverings for the places where the rites of the impure goddess were performed. See at the end of 2 Kings 21:26; (note).Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4-20Verses 4-20 A parenthesis giving the earlier reforms of Josiah. 2 Kings 23:4 The priests of the second order - This is a new expression; and probably refers to the ordinary priests, called here “priests of the second order,” in contrast with the high priest, whose dignity was reviving (2 Kings 12:2 note). The vessels - This would include the whole apparatus of worship, altars, images, dresses, utensils, etc., for Baal, etc. (2 Kings 21:3-5 notes). The…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-14Verses 4-14 What abundance of wickedness in Judah and Jerusalem! One would not have believed it possible, that in Judah, where God was known, in Israel, where his name was great, in Salem, in Zion, where his dwelling-place was, such abominations should be found. Josiah had reigned eighteen years, and had himself set the people a good example, and kept up religion according to the Divine law; yet, when he came to search for idolatry, the depth and extent…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5-7Josiah removed the priests who led idol worship. He also destroyed the living places of the cult prostitutes. These practices had been allowed by Manasseh and Amon. They continued the prostitution that came from Canaanite religion (see 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46). Shockingly, this was practiced inside the temple itself.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. brake down the houses of the sodomites--not solid houses, but tents, called elsewhere [2Ki 17:30] Succoth-benoth, "the booths of the young women," who were devoted to the service of Asherah, for which they made embroidered hangings, and in which they gave themselves to unbridled revelry and lust. Or the hangings might be for Asherah itself, as it is a popular superstition in the East to hang pieces of cloth on trees.Read the comment

Topics related to 2 Kings 23:7

• Church
• Iconoclasm
• Idolatry
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Josiah
• Prophecy
• Sodomites
• Sodomy
• Tapestry
• Weaving
• Women

In the dictionaries

• Hanging
• Jeremiah
• Josiah
• Kings, The Books of
• Pentateuch
• Weaving, weavers
• Chemosh
• Crime; Crimes
• God
• Hangings

Commentaries on 2 Kings 23

• 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