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2 Kings 16:17

in 2 Kings 16

King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And king Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the laver from off them, and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stone.

KJV

And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.

This verse in 2 Kings 16

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Theodoret of Cyrus

QUESTION 48, ON 2 KINGS · Written before 458.

I certainly do not think that he built [the altar] for the God of all things but just for certain of those who are falsely called gods. This is what the book of Chronicles points out. It reads, "In the time of his distress this …

This site's exposition

cut off the borders of the bases

on 2 Kings 16:17-18

Ahaz cuts down the bases, removes the laver, and takes the great sea off the twelve brasen oxen Solomon set under it at 1 Ki 7:23-25, the same twelve-tribe signature standing behind Elijah's twelve stones at Carmel. Barnes reads the stripping as conversion to other uses rather than outright destruction, since the bases, oxen and sea are still standing to be inventoried when Jerusalem finally falls at 2 Ki 25:13-16. The covert built for the sabbath and the king's own entry are likewise altered, and the chapter states the reason plainly, for the king of Assyria, the price of a rescue bought partly with the temple's own furnishings.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

These the priests used for washing; against them therefore he seems to have had a particular spite. It is one of the greatest prejudices that can be done to religion to obstruct the purifying of the priests, the Lord's ministers.
And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

See the marginal references. The acts recorded here, were probably not mere wanton acts of mutilation, but steps in the conversion of these sacred objects to other uses, as to the ornamentation of a palace or of an idol temple. The bases, the oxen, and the sea were not destroyed - they remained at Jerusalem until its final capture Jer 52:17, Jer 52:20. Probably they were restored to their original uses by Hezekiah 2Ch 29:

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

The canopy for Shabbos. The roof of a tent made for shade, 13 Alternatively, a building in which the mishmar, i.e., the family of kohanim that had served during the week, would stay until after Shabbos. That too he removed.—Radak to sit under it in the [Temple] courtyard on Shabbos.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Kings 16:18:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

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. 4 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

23 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.

  • וַיְקַצֵּץ֩and he cut off

    vaykatzetzH711214 times

  • הַמֶּ֨לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • אָחָ֜זAhaz

    ʾachazH27142 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הַמִּסְגְּר֣וֹתthe rims of

    hamisgerotH4526

  • הַמְּכֹנ֗וֹתthe stands

    hamekhonotH435024 times

  • וַיָּ֤סַרand he removed

    vaiyasarH5493299 times

  • מֵֽעֲלֵיהֶם֙from on <the> them

    mealeihemH59215755 times

  • אֶת<obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • הַכִּיֹּ֔רthe laver

    hakiyorH3595

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • הַיָּ֣םthe sea

    haiyamH3220396 times

  • הוֹרִ֔דhe took down

    horidH3381381 times

  • מֵעַ֛לfrom on

    mealH59215755 times

  • הַבָּקָ֥רthe ox[en]

    habakarH1241

  • הַנְּחֹ֖שֶׁתthe bronze

    hanechoshetH5178140 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • תַּחְתֶּ֑יהָ[were] under it

    tachteihaH8478505 times

  • וַיִּתֵּ֣ןand he put

    vaiyitenH54142011 times

  • אֹת֔וֹ<obj.> it

    ʾotoH85310935 times

  • עַ֖לon

    ʾalH59215755 times

  • מַרְצֶ֥פֶתa pavement of

    martzefetH4837

  • אֲבָנִֽים׃stone<s>

    ʾavanimH68273 times

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

The walk

8 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 Chronicles 29:19

    Moreover, we have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz in his unfaithfulness cast aside during his reign. They are now in front of the altar of the LORD.”

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 28:24

      Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his own on every street…

  • Through

    Jeremiah 52:20

    As for the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands that King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 7:47

      Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

    • 2 Kings 25:16

      As for the two pillars, the Sea, and the movable stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure.

    • 2 Chronicles 4:18

      Solomon made all these articles in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 28:24

    Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his own on every street…

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 29:7

      They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the Holy Place of the God of Israel.

    • 2 Kings 16:17–18

      King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and…

    • 2 Chronicles 33:3–5

      For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he raised up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. And he worshiped and served all the host of…

    • 2 Chronicles 30:14

      They proceeded to remove the altars in Jerusalem and to take away the incense altars and throw them into the Kidron Valley.

About 2 Kings

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, QUESTION 48, ON 2 KINGS.