1 Kings 15:12
in 1 Kings 15He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
KJV
And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
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This verse in 1 Kings 15
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd he took away the Sodomites out of the land,.... Which were in the times of Rehoboam, 1Ki 14:24, and continued in his father's reign; those he took away, either by driving them out of the land, or by putting them to death according to the law of God, Lev 20:13 even as many of them as he had knowledge of, for some remained, see 1Ki 22:46, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made; or suffered to be made, as Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijam, see 1Ki 11:7.
This site's exposition
did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord
on 1 Kings 15:11-13
Asa is measured by the same standard just applied to his father, as did David his father, and this time the verdict is positive: the sodomites, the cult prostitutes the law names at Deuteronomy 23:17-18, are put out of the land, and the idols his fathers made are removed. His own mother is not spared; he takes away her standing as queen for the idol she had made in a grove, and burns it at the brook Kidron, the same valley Judah's later reformers will use for the same purpose.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Look for a little at those books on the Republic from which you drew that ideal of the most devoted citizen: that there should be no limit or legitimate restriction on his service. Look, I beg you, and notice with what high praise frugality and temperance are there spoken of, as well as fidelity to the marriage bond, and chaste, honorable and upright conduct. When a state excels in these, it can truly be said to bloom. But in churches in growing numbers all over the world, as in holy gatherings of peoples, these principles are taught and learned; above all, the devotion by which the true and truth-giving God is worshiped, who not only commands these principles to be kept but also gives them fulfillment. It is by these that the human mind is prepared and made fit for the divine society and for its habitation in the eternal heavenly country. Hence he has foretold that the images of the many false gods would be overturned and has commanded them to be overturned.
In the meantime, Asa devoted himself to the reconstruction of the ruins of religion. He destroyed the temples of the idols, smashed the statues, set the sacred woods on fire and removed the ignominy of the effeminate priests. He also drove away Maacah, the mother …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
His father having made them, he was the more concerned to remove them, that he might cut off the entail of the curse, and prevent the visiting of that iniquity upon him and his. Nay (which redounds much to his honour, and shows his heart was perfect with God), when he found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
his mother's name was Maachah--She was properly his grandmother, and she is here called "the king's mother," from the post of dignity which at the beginning of his reign she possessed.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The sodomites - הקדשים hakkedeshim; literally, the holy or consecrated ones. See on 1Ki 14:24 (note).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And he rid [the land] of prostitutes. [Targum] Yonoson rendered, “and he abolished the prostitutes.”
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
He removed from her position of authority. From being queen.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּעֲבֵ֥ר | vaiyaaver | and he made to pass away | H5674 → | 556 times |
| הַקְּדֵשִׁ֖ים | hakedeshim | the male cult prostitutes | H6945 → | 6 times |
| מִן־ | min- | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הָאָ֑רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וַיָּ֙סַר֙ | vaiyasar | and he removed | H5493 → | 299 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַגִּלֻּלִ֔ים | hagilulim | the idols | H1544 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָשׂ֖וּ | ʾasu | they had made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| אֲבֹתָֽיו׃ | ʾavotav | ancestors his | H1 → | 1212 times |
וַיַּעֲבֵ֥רand he made to pass away
vaiyaaverH5674 →556 times
הַקְּדֵשִׁ֖יםthe male cult prostitutes
hakedeshimH6945 →6 times
מִן־from
min-H4480 →1188 times
הָאָ֑רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
וַיָּ֙סַר֙and he removed
vaiyasarH5493 →299 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַגִּלֻּלִ֔יםthe idols
hagilulimH1544 →
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עָשׂ֖וּthey had made
ʾasuH6213 →2628 times
אֲבֹתָֽיו׃ancestors his
ʾavotavH1 →1212 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 Kings 22:46He banished from the land the male shrine prostitutes who remained from the days of his father Asa.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 14:24
There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- Deuteronomy 23:17
No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
- Jude 1:7
In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal…
- Genesis 19:5
They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”
- Romans 1:26–27
For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
- 1 Kings 14:24
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 91; Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 15:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.