2 Kings 17:16

2 Kings 17:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
• New International Version (NIV)They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal.
• New King James Version (NKJV)So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
• New Living Translation (NLT)They rejected all the commands of the Lord their God and made two calves from metal. They set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and all the forces of heaven.

Context of 2 Kings 17:16

14But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 18Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.

2 Kings 17:16 word by word

וַיַּעַזְב֗וּ אֶת־כָּל־מִצְוֹת֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֔ם וַיַּעֲשׂ֥וּ לָהֶ֛ם מַסֵּכָ֖ה שְׁנֵ֣י עֲגָלִ֑ים וַיַּעֲשׂ֣וּ אֲשֵׁירָ֗ה וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲווּ֙ לְכָל־צְבָ֣א הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וַיַּעַבְד֖וּ אֶת־הַבָּֽעַל׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And they leftעָזַב‛âzab · to leave: forsakeH5800
• all the commandmentsמִצְוָהmitsvâh · commandmentH4687
• of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• their Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• and madeעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to makeH6213
• them molten imagesמַסֵּכָהmassêkâh · molten metalH4541
• twoשְׁנַ֫יִםshenayim shettayim · twoH8147
• calvesעֵ֫גֶל‛êgel · calfH5695
• a groveאֲשֵׁרָה'ăshêrâh 'ăshêyrâh · AsherahH842
• and worshippedשָׁחָהshâchâh · to bowH7812
• all the hostצָבָאtsâbâ' tsebâ'âh · armyH6635
• of heavenשָׁמַיִםshâmayim shâmeh · heavenH8064
• and servedעָבַד‛âbad · to serve: ministerH5647
• Baalבַּעַלba‛al · BaalH1168

Cross-references for 2 Kings 17:16

• Exodus 32:4And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
• 1 Kings 12:28So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."
• Psalms 106:18Fire also broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
• Isaiah 44:9All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.
• 2 Kings 17:20And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
• 1 Kings 14:15the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger.
• 1 Kings 15:13He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron.
• 1 Kings 16:33And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
• Deuteronomy 4:19And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
• Jeremiah 8:2And they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. And they shall not be gathered or buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.
• 2 Kings 10:18Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.
• 2 Kings 11:18Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the Lord.
• 1 Kings 16:31And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.
• 1 Kings 22:53He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done.

Commentaries on 2 Kings 17:16

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16In 2 Kings 17:10 there is a reference to the old high-place worship, which was professedly a worship of Yahweh, but with unauthorized rites and emblems; here the reference is to Ahab‘s setting up a grove to Baal in the city of Samaria (marginal reference). And worshipped all the host of heaven - Astral worship has not hitherto been mentioned as practiced by the Israelites. Moses had warned against it Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3, so that it no doubt…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-23Verses 7-23 Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes was but briefly related, it is in these verses largely commented upon, and the reasons of it given. It was destruction from the Almighty: the Assyrian was but the rod of his anger, Is 10:5. Those that bring sin into a country or family, bring a plague into it, and will have to answer for all the mischief that follows. And vast as the outward wickedness of the world is, the secret sins…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16-17all the commandments of the LORD: The narrator lists specific examples of Israel's disobedience. These include: the two metal calves set up at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28–30), the Canaanite fertility symbol called an Asherah pole (2 Kings 13:6; 17:10; 1 Kings 14:23; 16:33; Micah 5:14), the ongoing worship of Baal (1 Kings 16:31–33; Hosea 2:13; 13:1), and the detestable Molech rituals (2 Kings 16:3; Psalm 106:37).Read the comment

Topics related to 2 Kings 17:16

• Assyria
• Baal
• Babylon
• Groves
• Idolatry
• Judgments
• Rulers
• Stars

In the dictionaries

• Baal
• God
• Host of heaven
• Stars
• Adoration
• Assyria
• Astrology
• Calf, Golden
• Captivity
• Fear

Commentaries on 2 Kings 17

• 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