1 Kings 14:23

1 Kings 14:23 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
• New International Version (NIV)They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.
• New Living Translation (NLT)For they also built for themselves pagan shrines and set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

Context of 1 Kings 14:23

21Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. 22And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 24and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 25In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

1 Kings 14:23 word by word

וַיִּבְנ֨וּ גַם־הֵ֧מָּה לָהֶ֛ם בָּמ֥וֹת וּמַצֵּב֖וֹת וַאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים עַ֚ל כָּל־גִּבְעָ֣ה גְבֹהָ֔ה וְתַ֖חַת כָּל־עֵ֥ץ רַעֲנָֽן׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For they also builtבָּנָהbânâh · to buildH1129
• them high placesבָּמָהbâmâh · high placeH1116
• and imagesמַצֵּבָהmatstsêbâh · pillarH4676
• and grovesאֲשֵׁרָה'ăshêrâh 'ăshêyrâh · AsherahH842
• on every highגָּבֹהַּgâbôhha gâbôhha · highH1364
• hillגִּבְעָהgib‛âh · hillH1389
• and under every greenרַעֲנָןra‛ănân · luxuriantH7488
• treeעֵץ‛êts · treeH6086

Cross-references for 1 Kings 14:23

• 1 Kings 3:2The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
• Deuteronomy 12:2You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
• Isaiah 57:5you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
• Ezekiel 16:24you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square.
• Ezekiel 20:28For when I had brought them into the land that I swore to give them, then wherever they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings.
• Leviticus 26:1"You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.
• Micah 5:14and I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities.
• 2 Kings 17:9And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
• 2 Kings 21:3For 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.
• 2 Chronicles 28:4And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
• Jeremiah 17:2while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills,
• Jeremiah 3:13Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord.

Commentaries on 1 Kings 14:23

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23The words “they also” are emphatic. Not only did the Israelites make themselves high places 1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:32, but the people of Judah also. The “high places,” which are said to have been “built,” were probably small shrines or tabernacles hung with bright-colored tapestry Ezekiel 16:16, like the “sacred tent” of the Carthaginians. The “images” were rather “pillars” (Genesis 28:18 note). Groves - See 1 Kings 14:15, note. The “groves,” it will…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-31Verses 21-31 Here is no good said of Rehoboam, and much said to the disadvantage of his subjects. The abounding of the worst crimes, of the worst of the heathen, in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen for his temple and his worship, shows that nothing can mend the hearts of fallen men but the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. On this alone may we depend; for this let us daily pray, in behalf of ourselves and all around us. The splendour of their…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23-24Solomon married foreign wives, which led his family into idol worship. Under Rehoboam's leadership, Judah continued the offensive practices of the pagan nations that lived in the land before the Israelites. When leaders are corrupt, a nation's spiritual decline often follows, leading to shame and ruin (Proverbs 14:34). Shrine prostitutes were common in Canaan but were forbidden for Israel (see study notes on Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 23:17–18). They…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Kings 14:23

• Groves
• High Places
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Mountain

In the dictionaries

• Cruse
• Guard
• Ahijah
• Apostasy; Apostate
• Color; Colors
• God
• High Place
• Hill, Hill Country
• Nadab
• Obelisk

Commentaries on 1 Kings 14

• 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
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings