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1 Kings 16:32

in 1 Kings 16

First, Ahab set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

KJV

And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

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This verse in 1 Kings 16

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

an altar for Baal in the house of Baal

on 1 Kings 16:32-33

Ahab builds Baal an altar and a house in Samaria itself, the capital his father bought, and adds a grove, Asherah, the goddess image the older writers name by different words but the same office. Verse 33's closing line outdoes verse 30's already: Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him, the chapter's third and steepest escalation in nine verses. Manufactured religion has moved from two calves at Bethel and Dan to a state temple for a foreign god inside one royal lifetime.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. That he might not go so far as Tyre or Zidon; and for his wife's convenience also he built a temple in Samaria for Baal, and erected an altar there to offer sacrifices upon it unto him; so open and daring was he in his idolatrous practices.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

reared up an altar for Baal--that is, the sun, worshipped under various images. Ahab set up one (2Ki 3:2), probably as the Tyrian Hercules, in the temple in Samaria. No human sacrifices were offered--the fire was kept constantly burning --the priests officiated barefoot.

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The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיָּ֥קֶםand he set up

    vaiyakemH6965 →628 times

  • מִזְבֵּ֖חַan altar

    mizbeachH4196 →401 times

  • לַבָּ֑עַלto <the> Baal

    labaalH1168 →82 times

  • בֵּ֣ית[the] house of

    beitH1004 →2046 times

  • הַבַּ֔עַל<the> Baal

    habaalH1168 →82 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • בָּנָ֖הhe built

    banahH1129 →376 times

  • בְּשֹׁמְרֽוֹן׃in Samaria

    beshomeronH8111 →109 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    2 Kings 10:21

    Then Jehu sent word throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; there was not a man who failed to show. They entered the temple of Baal, and it was filled from end…

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 11:18

      So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal in…

    • Joel 3:11–14

      Come quickly, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves. Bring down Your mighty ones, O LORD.

    • Revelation 16:16

      And they assembled the kings in the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

    • Judges 16:27

      Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.

    • Joel 3:2

      I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My people, My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among…

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
1 Kings: the study guide →Read 1 Kings 16 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Kings 16 →