Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
and they have not hearkened, but according to their former custom they are doing,
And they did not hearken, but did after their former customs.
2 Kings — Two kingdoms on parallel but diverging arcs. Elisha's ministry; Samaria falls to Assyria in 722 BC; Jerusalem falls to Babylon in 586 BC. Prophets interpose; kings refuse; the exile comes — and closes on a whisper of covenant hope.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices2
Howbeit, they did not hearken, but did after their former manner. They did not repent of their idolatries, but persisted in them, and even when they were in captivity in Assyria, or such of them as were left in the land.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
So they did, and so did the nations that succeeded them. Well might the apostle ask, What then, Are we better than they? No, in no wise, for both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, Rom. iii.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
The verses this one reaches5
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good— you who are accustomed to doing evil.
They served idols, although the LORD had told them, “You shall not do this thing.”
and walked in the customs of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites, as well as in the practices introduced by the kings of Israel.
And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
To this day they are still practicing their former customs. None of them worship the LORD or observe the statutes, ordinances, laws, and commandments that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom He named Israel.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Jeremiah 13:23Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good— you who are accustomed to doing evil.
leads to
Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.
Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than…
Through
Deuteronomy 4:28And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
leads to
Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you…
So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you…
The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.
The whole web at once: see the Arc.
