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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green 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.

Context of 1 Kings 14:23

21Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 22And the people of Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they, too, built for themselves high places, memorial stones, and Asherim on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree. 24There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They committed all the same abominations of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 25Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt marched 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

• For they, tooגַּםgam · alsoH1571
• builtבָּנָהbânâh · to buildH1129
• highבָּמָהbâmâh · high placeH1116
• memorialמַצֵּבָהmatstsêbâh · pillarH4676
• Asherimאֲשֵׁרָה'ăshêrâh 'ăshêyrâh · AsherahH842
• on everyכֹּלkôl kôl · allH3605
• highגָּבֹהַּgâbôhha gâbôhha · highH1364
• hillגִּבְעָהgib‛âh · hillH1389
• underתַּחַתtachath · underneath: underH8478
• luxuriantרַעֲנָןra‛ănân · luxuriantH7488
• treeעֵץ‛êts · treeH6086

Cross-references for 1 Kings 14:23

• 1 Kings 3:2The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.
• Deuteronomy 12:2You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you are going to dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.
• Isaiah 57:5Who inflame yourselves among the oaks, Under every luxuriant tree, Who slaughter the children in the ravines, Under the clefts of the rocks?
• Ezekiel 16:24that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every public square.
• Ezekiel 20:28When I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every tree thick with branches, and there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There also they made their soothing aroma and there they poured out their drink offerings.
• Leviticus 26:1‘You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves a carved image or a memorial stone, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.
• Micah 5:14I will uproot your Asherim from among you, And destroy your cities.
• 2 Kings 17:9And the sons of Israel did things secretly against the Lord their God which were not right. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
• 2 Kings 21:3For he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he worshiped all the heavenly lights and served them.
• 2 Chronicles 28:4He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
• Jeremiah 17:2As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills.
• Jeremiah 3:13Only acknowledge your wrongdoing, That you have revolted against the Lord your God, And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every leafy tree, And 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