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 son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah. 22Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done. They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 24There were also male cultic prostitutes in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites. 25In King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked 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 3:2Now the people were offering sacrifices at the high places, because in those days a temple had not yet been built to honor the Lord.
• Deuteronomy 12:2You must by all means destroy all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.
• Isaiah 57:5you who practice ritual sex under the oaks and every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs.
• Ezekiel 16:24you built yourself a chamber and put up a pavilion in every public square.
• Ezekiel 20:28I brought them to the land which I swore to give them, but whenever they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices there and presented the offerings that provoke me to anger. They offered their soothing aroma there and poured out their drink offerings.
• Leviticus 26:1“‘You must not make for yourselves idols, so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before it, for I am the Lord your God.
• Micah 5:14I will uproot your images of Asherah from your midst, and destroy your idols.
• 2 Kings 17:9The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress.
• 2 Kings 21:3He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them.
• 2 Chronicles 28:4He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
• Jeremiah 17:2Their children are always thinking about their altars and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, set up beside the green trees on the high hills
• Jeremiah 3:13However, you must confess that you have done wrong, and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,’ says 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