1 Kings 14:23
in 1 Kings 14They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;
KJV
For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
⋯
This verse in 1 Kings 14
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The words “they also” are emphatic. Not only did the Israelites make themselves high places 1Ki 12:31; 1Ki 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 Eze 16:16, like the “sacred tent” of the Carthaginians. The “images” were rather “pillars” (Gen 28:18 note). Groves - See 1Ki 14:15, note.
This site's exposition
Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord
on 1 Kings 14:22-24
Judah's own indictment is framed to outdo the fathers, above all that their fathers had done, so the south's decline begins in the same chapter as the north's judgment, on the very site the Lord chose for his name. Verse 23 names high places, images and groves built on every high hill and under every green tree, the Canaanite worship pattern Deuteronomy warned against in that same phrase. Verse 24's sodomites in the land, cult attendants tied to the fertility shrines, are read by the bench as evidence that the Canaanite religion Israel was sent to dispossess had been adopted rather than destroyed.
This site's exposition
on every high hill and under
Albert Barnes reads they also as a charge that Judah copied the high places Israel built at 12:31. John Wesley reads every high hill and green tree as corruption through the whole land. Deuteronomy 12:2 had ordered such places destroyed.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
Groves - Not only after the manner of the Heathens and Israelites, but against a direct and particular prohibition. Under every green tree - The people were universally corrupted: which is prodigious, all things considered, and is a clear evidence of the greatness and depth of the original corruption of man's nature.
It was strange that David would marry his son Solomon to an Ammonitess (for it was done while he lived), but it is probable that Solomon was in love with her, because she was Naamah, a beauty (so it signifies), and his father was loth to cross him, but it proved to have a very bad influence upon posterity.
The account here given of the wickedness of the Jews agrees with that which the apostle gives of the wickedness of the Gentile world ( Rom. i. 21, 24 ), so that both Jew and Gentile are alike under sin, Rom. iii. (1.) They became vain in their imaginations concerning God, and changed his glory into an image, for they built themselves high places, images, and groves (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
), profaning God's name by affixing to it their images, and God's ordinances by serving their idols with them. They foolishly fancies that they exalted God when they worshipped him on high hills and pleased him when they worshipped him under the pleasant shadow of green trees.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
For they also built them high places,....
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּבְנ֨וּ | vaiyivnu | and they built | H1129 → | 376 times |
| גַם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| הֵ֧מָּה | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| לָהֶ֛ם | lahem | for themselves | ||
| בָּמ֥וֹת | bamot | high places | H1116 → | 102 times |
| וּמַצֵּב֖וֹת | umatzevot | and sacred pillars | H4676 → | |
| וַאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים | vaasherim | and Asherah poles | H842 → | 40 times |
| עַ֚ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| גִּבְעָ֣ה | givah | hill | H1389 → | |
| גְבֹהָ֔ה | gevohah | high | H1364 → | |
| וְתַ֖חַת | vetachat | and under | H8478 → | 505 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֵ֥ץ | ʾetz | tree | H6086 → | 328 times |
| רַעֲנָֽן׃ | raanan | luxuriant | H7488 → |
וַיִּבְנ֨וּand they built
vaiyivnuH1129 →376 times
גַם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
הֵ֧מָּהthey
hemahH1992 →553 times
לָהֶ֛םfor themselves
lahem
בָּמ֥וֹתhigh places
bamotH1116 →102 times
וּמַצֵּב֖וֹתand sacred pillars
umatzevotH4676 →
וַאֲשֵׁרִ֑יםand Asherah poles
vaasherimH842 →40 times
עַ֚לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
גִּבְעָ֣הhill
givahH1389 →
גְבֹהָ֔הhigh
gevohahH1364 →
וְתַ֖חַתand under
vetachatH8478 →505 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עֵ֥ץtree
ʾetzH6086 →328 times
רַעֲנָֽן׃luxuriant
raananH7488 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 12:2Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 7:5
Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
- Numbers 33:51–52
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
- 2 Kings 16:4
And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
- Deuteronomy 7:5
Through
Deuteronomy 16:22and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:1
“You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am…
- Exodus 20:4
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.
- Leviticus 26:1
Through
Isaiah 57:5who burn with lust among the oaks, under every luxuriant tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:29
Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.
- 2 Kings 16:3–4
Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the…
- Ezekiel 16:20
You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
- Isaiah 1:29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.