Judges 3:7

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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot about the Lord their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles.

Context of Judges 3:7

5The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.

Judges 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 3:12Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.
• Judges 2:11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.
• Judges 6:25That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
• Exodus 34:13Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.
• Deuteronomy 16:21Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God,
• 1 Kings 16:33Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.
• 1 Kings 18:19Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
• 2 Kings 23:6He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.
• 2 Chronicles 15:16King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
• 2 Chronicles 24:18They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came on Judah and Jerusalem.
• 2 Chronicles 33:3He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.
• 2 Chronicles 34:3In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.

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

• Amorites
• Fellowship
• Groves
• Hittites
• Israel
• Miscegenation
• Perizzites
• Polytheism

In the dictionaries

• God
• Israel
• Children of Israel
• Close
• Dirt
• Errand
• Grove
• Rest
• Secret
• Abdon (1)

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