EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Judges 3:7
7The Israelites forgot to serve the Lord their God. They did things that he saw were evil. They worshipped idols of Baal and Asherah.
Judges 3:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
- New International Version (NIV)The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
- English Standard Version (ESV)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
- New King James Version (NKJV)So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.
Context of Judges 3:7
5So the Israelites lived among those other nations, the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6Some Israelites married young women from these nations. They also let their daughters marry Canaanite men. As a result, the Israelites started to worship the Canaanite gods. The Israelites forgot to serve the Lord their God. They did things that he saw were evil. They worshipped idols of Baal and Asherah. 8The Lord was very angry with the Israelites. He let King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim attack them. They were under his power for eight years. 9Then the Israelites called out to the Lord for help. So he chose Othniel to be their leader. He was the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Othniel rescued them from their enemies.
Read all of Judges 3Judges 3:7 word by word
וַיַּעֲשׂ֨וּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֤ל אֶת־הָרַע֙ בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה וַֽיִּשְׁכְּח֖וּ אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֑ם וַיַּעַבְד֥וּ אֶת־הַבְּעָלִ֖ים וְאֶת־הָאֲשֵׁרֽוֹת׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And the childrenבֵּןbên · son: descendant/peopleH1121
- of Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
- didעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
- evilרַעra‛ râ‛âh · bad: evilH7451
- in the sightעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eye: seeingH5869
- of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
- and forgatשָׁכַחshâkach shâkêach · to forgetH7911
- their Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
- and servedעָבַד‛âbad · to serve: ministerH5647
- Baalimבַּעַלba‛al · BaalH1168
- and the grovesאֲשֵׁרָה'ăshêrâh 'ăshêyrâh · AsherahH842
Cross-references for Judges 3:7
- Judges 3:12Once again the Israelites did things that the Lord saw were evil. Because of this, the Lord gave Eglon, the king of Moab, power over Israel.
- Judges 2:11The Israelites did things that the Lord saw were evil. They worshipped the idols of Baal.
- Judges 6:25On the same night, the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Take your father's bull from among his animals. Also take a second bull, one that is seven years old. Use them to pull down your father's altar to Baal. Also cut down the Asherah pole that is there.
- Exodus 34:13Instead, you must knock down their altars. Destroy the special stones that are their idols. Cut down their Asherah poles.
- Deuteronomy 16:21When you build an altar to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God, do not put any Asherah pole there.
- 1 Kings 16:33Ahab also made an Asherah pole to worship. He did many bad things that made the Lord, Israel's God, angry. He did more bad things than all the kings of Israel who lived before him.
- 1 Kings 18:19Now, tell people from all over Israel to come and meet me. They must meet me on Mount Carmel. Also, bring the 450 prophets who serve Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah that Jezebel provides with food.’
- 2 Kings 23:6He 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.
- 2 Chronicles 15:16King Asa 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.
- 2 Chronicles 24:18They stopped worshipping the Lord, the God of their ancestors, in his temple. Instead, they worshipped Asherah poles and idols. So God became very angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, because they were guilty of these sins.
- 2 Chronicles 33:3Manasseh built again the altars on the hills that his father Hezekiah had knocked down. He built altars for people to worship idols of Baal. He also made Asherah poles. He bent down low to worship all the stars in the sky.
- 2 Chronicles 34:3When Josiah had been king for eight years, he was still a young man. At that time he began to worship God, as his ancestor David had done. When he had been king for 12 years, he started to remove the places in Jerusalem and in all Judah where people worshipped false gods. He removed the altars on the hills, the Asherah poles, the idols and the images of false gods.
Commentaries on Judges 3:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7Served Baalim and the groves - No groves were ever worshipped, but the deities who were supposed to be resident in them; and in many cases temples and altars were built in groves, and the superstition of consecrating groves and woods to the honor of the deities was a practice very usual with the ancients. Pliny assures us that trees, in old times, served for the temples of the gods. Tacitus reports this custom of the old Germans; Quintus Curtius, of the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7And the groves - literally, Asheroth, images of Asherah (the goddess companion of Baal): see Deuteronomy 16:21 note.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7-11The story of Othniel is a typical example of the cycles in Judges. People did wrong, often worshipping Baal and Asherah (see study notes on Judges 2:11–13; 6:25–32). This angered the Lord and led to foreign oppression. The people's cries moved God to show compassion and send a rescuer-judge through his spirit. The rescuer stopped the oppression, and the land experienced peace before the cycle repeated. Othniel represents an ideal judge.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 5-75-7. the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites--The two peoples by degrees came to be on habits of intercourse. Reciprocal alliances were formed by marriage till the Israelites, relaxing the austerity of their principles, showed a growing conformity to the manners and worship of their idolatrous neighbors.Read the comment
Topics related to Judges 3:7
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Judges 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
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
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