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2 Kings 17:15

in 2 Kings 17

They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified unto them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them.

KJV

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.

This verse in 2 Kings 17

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
As idols are “vanity” and “nothingness,” mere weakness and impotence, so idolators are “vain” and impotent. Their energies have been wasted, their time misspent; they have missed the real object of their existence; their whole life has been a mistake; and the result is utter powerlessness. Literally, the word rendered “vanity” seems to mean “breath” or “vapor” - a familiar image for nonentity. It occurs frequently in the prophets, and especially in Jeremiah (e. g. Jer 2:5; Jer 8:19; Jer 14:22, etc.).

This site's exposition

hardened their necks

on 2 Kings 17:14-15

They hardened their necks like their fathers before them who did not believe, a phrase running back to the wilderness generation, and stiff necked disobedience becomes this chapter's diagnosis across two centuries of kings. Verse 15 names the mechanism in one sentence: they followed vanity, and became vain, worship shaping the worshipper into the likeness of what is worshipped. Paul's argument in Romans 1, that those who exchange the truth for a lie are given over to what they chose, runs on the same logic this verse already states.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), That they should not do like the heathen. Nor could they be in any doubt concerning their obligation to observe the laws which they are here charged with rejecting, for they were the commandments and statutes of the Lord their God (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), would not be bound up either by his command or the consent they themselves had given to the covenant, but threw off the obligations of both, and therefore God justly rejected them,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Vanity - Idols; so called because of their nothingness, impotency, and unprofitableness; and by the long worship of idols, they were made like them, vain, sottish, and senseless creatures.
And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers,....

The words behind it

29 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.

  • וַיִּמְאֲס֣וּand they rejected

    vaiyimasuH398876 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • חֻקָּ֗יוstatutes his

    chukavH2706

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • בְּרִיתוֹ֙covenant his

    beritoH1285284 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • כָּרַ֣תhe had made

    karatH3772288 times

  • אֶת־with

    ʾet-H854929 times

  • אֲבוֹתָ֔םancestors their

    ʾavotamH11212 times

  • וְאֵת֙and <obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • עֵֽדְוֹתָ֔יוtestimonies his

    ʾedevotavH571559 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • הֵעִ֖ידhe warned

    heidH5749

  • בָּ֑ם<in> them

    bam

  • וַיֵּ֨לְכ֜וּand they walked

    vaiyelekhuH19801546 times

  • אַחֲרֵ֤יafter

    ʾachareiH310715 times

  • הַהֶ֙בֶל֙<the> vanity

    hahevelH1892

  • וַיֶּהְבָּ֔לוּand they became vain

    vaiyehbaluH1891

  • וְאַחֲרֵ֤יand after

    veachareiH310715 times

  • הַגּוֹיִם֙the nations

    hagoyimH1471561 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • סְבִֽיבֹתָ֔ם[were] around them

    sevivotamH5439336 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • צִוָּ֤הhe had commanded

    tzivahH6680494 times

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֹתָ֔ם<obj.> them

    ʾotamH85310935 times

  • לְבִלְתִּ֖יto not

    leviltiH1115112 times

  • עֲשׂ֥וֹתto do

    asotH62132628 times

  • כָּהֶֽם׃like them

    kahem

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

    Deuteronomy 32:21

    They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will…

    it leads to

    • Romans 10:19

      I ask instead, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says: “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding.”

    • Romans 9:25

      As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”

    • Romans 11:11–14

      I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Certainly not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.

    • 1 Kings 16:26

      For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sins, which he caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless…

    • 1 Kings 16:13

      This happened because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 2:5

    This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

    it leads to

    • Romans 1:21

      For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

    • Jonah 2:8

      Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.

    • Jeremiah 10:14–15

      Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

Foreign Nations Are Slain by Lions in Samaria — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Foreign Nations Are Slain by Lions in Samaria — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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.