1 Kings 14:24
in 1 Kings 14There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Jehovah drove out before the children of Israel.
KJV
And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
⋯
This verse in 1 Kings 14
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd there were also Sodomites in the land, Such as were addicted to unnatural lusts between men and men, which the men of Sodom were guilty of, from whence they had their name: Jarchi interprets the word adultery and some versions render it whoremongers; and filthy actions of this nature, both by men and women, usually attended idolatrous practices among the heathens; in their temples and groves such wickednesses were privately perpetrated: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel; the Canaanites, of whose uncleannesses, incests, and bestialities, see Lev 18:
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
male shrine prostitutes in the land
Adam Clarke gives the Hebrew word as kedeshim, persons consecrated to the service of idols through impure rites. Deuteronomy 23:17 forbade them in Israel, and Matthew Henry reads their presence as the LORD giving Judah up to the abominations of the nations before them. Asa drives them from the land at 15:12.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
"There was also prostitution in the land." [The Scripture] does not refer to the mere [prostitution] of bodies, nor to that of the soul, which is idolatry, but to that [prostitution] spread by demons among the Gentiles in order to corrupt God's creature and work, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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.
They dishonoured God by one sin and then God left them to dishonour themselves by another. They profaned the privileges of a holy nation, therefore God gave them up to their own hearts' lusts, to imitate the abominations of the accursed Canaanites; and herein the Lord was righteous.
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
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
There were also sodomites in the land - קדשים kedeshim, consecrated persons; persons who had devoted themselves, in practices of the greatest impurity, to the service of the most impure idols.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Sodomites - literally, ” (men) consecrated.” The men in question were in fact “consecrated” to the mother of the gods, the famous “Dea Syra,” whose priests, or rather devotees, they were considered to be. The nature of the ancient idolatries is best understood by recollecting that persons of this degraded class practiced their abominable trade under a religious sanction.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְגַם־ | vegam- | and also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| קָדֵ֖שׁ | kadesh | cult prostitute[s] | H6945 → | 6 times |
| הָיָ֣ה | hayah | he was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| בָאָ֑רֶץ | vaaretz | in the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| עָשׂ֗וּ | ʾasu | they did | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כְּכֹל֙ | kekhol | according to all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַתּוֹעֲבֹ֣ת | hatoavot | the abominations of | H8441 → | |
| הַגּוֹיִ֔ם | hagoyim | the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| אֲשֶׁר֙ | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הוֹרִ֣ישׁ | horish | he had dispossessed | H3423 → | 231 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מִפְּנֵ֖י | mipenei | from before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| בְּנֵ֥י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ פ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
וְגַם־and also
vegam-H1571 →769 times
קָדֵ֖שׁcult prostitute[s]
kadeshH6945 →6 times
הָיָ֣הhe was
hayahH1961 →3559 times
בָאָ֑רֶץin the land
vaaretzH776 →2504 times
עָשׂ֗וּthey did
ʾasuH6213 →2628 times
כְּכֹל֙according to all
kekholH3605 →5413 times
הַתּוֹעֲבֹ֣תthe abominations of
hatoavotH8441 →
הַגּוֹיִ֔םthe nations
hagoyimH1471 →561 times
אֲשֶׁר֙which
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
הוֹרִ֣ישׁhe had dispossessed
horishH3423 →231 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מִפְּנֵ֖יfrom before
mipeneiH6440 →2123 times
בְּנֵ֥י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ פIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
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
1 Corinthians 6:9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 1:9–10
We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers,
- Galatians 5:19–21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Ephesians 5:4–5
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.
- Leviticus 20:13
If a man lies with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
- Revelation 21:8
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
- 1 Timothy 1:9–10
Through
2 Kings 23:7He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 15:12
He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 15:12
Through
1 Kings 15:12He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 22:46
He banished from the land the male shrine prostitutes who remained from the days of his father Asa.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 22:46
Through
Deuteronomy 23:17No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 23:7
He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
- 2 Kings 23:7
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); Ishodad of Merv, BOOKS OF SESSIONS 1 KINGS 14:24; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.