2 Kings 12:3
in 2 Kings 12Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
KJV
But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
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This verse in 2 Kings 12
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The worship on the “high places” seems to have continued uninterruptedly to the time of Hezekiah, who abolished it 2Ki 18:4. It was, however, again established by Manasseh, his son 2Ki 21:3. The priests at this time cannot have regarded it as idolatrous, or Jehoiada would have put it during his regency.
This site's exposition
His mother’s name was Zibiah
on 2 Kings 12:1-3
Joash begins a forty-year reign, the same span the text gives David and Solomon. The verdict carries its own limit: he did right “all the days he was instructed by Jehoiada the priest.” The high places still stand, and “the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.”
This site's exposition
the high places were not removed
Albert Barnes traced worship at the high places without a break down to Hezekiah, and Manasseh set it up again at 2 Kings 21:3. Barnes held that the priests of this time did not count it idolatry. Jehoiada as regent left it standing.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
15 Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully. 16 The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the L ORD : it was the priests'.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:95%@v15-16
But the high places were not taken away,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The high places were not taken away - Without the total destruction of these there could be no radical reform. The toleration of any species of idolatry in the land, whatever else was done in behalf of true religion, left, and in effect fostered, a seed which springing up, regenerated in time the whole infernal system. Jehoiada did not use his influence as he might have done; for as he had the king’s heart and hand with him, he might have done what he pleased.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רַ֥ק | rak | only | H7535 → | 109 times |
| הַבָּמ֖וֹת | habamot | the high places | H1116 → | 102 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| סָ֑רוּ | saru | they were removed | H5493 → | 299 times |
| ע֥וֹד | od | still | H5750 → | 490 times |
| הָעָ֛ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| מְזַבְּחִ֥ים | mezabechim | [were] sacrificing | H2076 → | 134 times |
| וּֽמְקַטְּרִ֖ים | umekaterim | and [were] making smoke | H6999 → | 116 times |
| בַּבָּמֽוֹת׃ | babamot | at the high places | H1116 → | 102 times |
רַ֥קonly
rakH7535 →109 times
הַבָּמ֖וֹתthe high places
habamotH1116 →102 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
סָ֑רוּthey were removed
saruH5493 →299 times
ע֥וֹדstill
odH5750 →490 times
הָעָ֛םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
מְזַבְּחִ֥ים[were] sacrificing
mezabechimH2076 →134 times
וּֽמְקַטְּרִ֖יםand [were] making smoke
umekaterimH6999 →116 times
בַּבָּמֽוֹת׃at the high places
babamotH1116 →102 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
2 Kings 18:4He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites…
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 31:1
When all this had ended, the Israelites in attendance went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and…
- Numbers 21:8–9
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”
- 2 Kings 18:22
But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship…
- Judges 6:28
When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly…
- 2 Chronicles 31:1
Through
1 Kings 22:43And Jehoshaphat walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them, but did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. The high places, however, were…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 15:14
The high places were not removed, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted to the LORD all his days.
- 1 Kings 15:14
Through
1 Kings 15:14The high places were not removed, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted to the LORD all his days.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 22:43
And Jehoshaphat walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them, but did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. The high places, however, were…
- 1 Kings 8:61
So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”
- 1 Kings 15:3
And Abijam walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed, and his heart was not as fully devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his forefather…
- 1 Kings 22:43
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
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About 2 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); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.