2 Kings 23:14
in 2 Kings 23He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
KJV
And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
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This verse in 2 Kings 23
Commentary
3 notes on this verseAnd he brake in pieces the images,.... Of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, in the above high places; which as these high places had been rebuilt by Manasseh or Amon, so new images of these deities were placed there: and cut down the groves; in which they were set: and filled their places with the bones of men; of idolatrous priests and worshippers, buried in parts adjacent; these he dug up and scattered in the high places and groves to defile them, bones of the dead being by law unclean, Num 19:15.
This site's exposition
top of the upper chamber of Ahaz
on 2 Kings 23:12-14
Ahaz had built altars on the palace roof itself, and Manasseh had built more inside the temple's two courts; Josiah beats them all down and scatters the dust in the Kidron. The high places on the mount before Jerusalem reach back further still, to Solomon, who raised them for Ashtoreth of the Sidonians, Chemosh of Moab, and Milcom of Ammon (1 Ki 11:7); Josiah defiles the same ground his ancestor first profaned. The images are broken and the sites filled with human bones, the strongest defilement the law recognized (Num 19:15), so no worshipper could return to them clean.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Filled their places with the bones of men - This was allowed to be the utmost defilement to which any thing could be exposed.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְשִׁבַּר֙ | veshibar | and he broke | H7665 → | 147 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַמַּצֵּב֔וֹת | hamatzevot | the sacred pillars | H4676 → | 32 times |
| וַיִּכְרֹ֖ת | vaiyikhrot | and he cut down | H3772 → | 288 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים | haasherim | the Asherah poles | H842 → | 40 times |
| וַיְמַלֵּ֥א | vaymale' | and he filled | H4390 → | 249 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מְקוֹמָ֖ם | mekomam | place their | H4725 → | 401 times |
| עַצְמ֥וֹת | atzmot | bones of | H6106 → | 126 times |
| אָדָֽם׃ | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
וְשִׁבַּר֙and he broke
veshibarH7665 →147 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַמַּצֵּב֔וֹתthe sacred pillars
hamatzevotH4676 →32 times
וַיִּכְרֹ֖תand he cut down
vaiyikhrotH3772 →288 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָאֲשֵׁרִ֑יםthe Asherah poles
haasherimH842 →40 times
וַיְמַלֵּ֥אand he filled
vaymale'H4390 →249 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מְקוֹמָ֖םplace their
mekomamH4725 →401 times
עַצְמ֥וֹתbones of
atzmotH6106 →126 times
אָדָֽם׃humankind
ʾadamH120 →551 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 23:16And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it,…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 13:1–2
Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 13:32
for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely…
- 1 Kings 13:1–2
Through
Exodus 23:24You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
it leads to
- Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Deuteronomy 12:30–31
be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
- Numbers 33:52
you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
- Exodus 20:5
Through
Deuteronomy 7:5Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
it leads to
- Exodus 23:24
You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
- Deuteronomy 12:2–3
Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
- Exodus 23:24
Through
Micah 1:7All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 23:18
You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.
- Deuteronomy 23:18
Where this verse is studied
About 2 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).