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2 Kings 23:19

in 2 Kings 23

Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the LORD to anger.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Jehovah to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.

KJV

And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth–el.

This verse in 2 Kings 23

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

That were in the cities of Samaria - Israel had now no king; and Josiah, of the blood royal of Judah, had certainly a direct right to the kingdom; he had, at this time, an especial commission from God, to reform every abuse through the whole land - all that ground that was given by the Lord as an inheritance to the twelve sons of Jacob. Therefore he had every right to carry his plans of reformation into the Samaritan states.

This site's exposition

cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel

on 2 Kings 23:19-20

Josiah's reform does not stop at Judah's border; he treats the shrines of the fallen northern kingdom exactly as he treated Bethel, and slaughters the priests of the high places on their own altars, burning human bones over them as he had done there. Israel had no king of its own by this point, and Clarke reads Josiah's authority as flowing from his standing as the house of David over ground once given to all twelve tribes, not from any new conquest. He then returns to Jerusalem, the northern campaign closed inside two verses.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And all the houses also of the high places,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

These the kings of Israel built, and God raised up this king of Judah to pull them down, for the honour of the ancient house of David, from which the ten tribes had revolted; the priests he justly made sacrifices upon their own altars,

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.

  • וְגַם֩and also

    vegamH1571769 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H36055413 times

  • בָּתֵּ֨י[the] houses of

    bateiH10042046 times

  • הַבָּמ֜וֹתthe high places

    habamotH1116102 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣ר׀which

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • בְּעָרֵ֣י[were] in [the] cities of

    beareiH58921090 times

  • שֹׁמְר֗וֹןSamaria

    shomeronH8111109 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • עָשׂ֜וּthey had made

    ʾasuH62132628 times

  • מַלְכֵ֤י[the] kings of

    malkheiH44282525 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Israel

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • לְהַכְעִ֔יסto provoke anger

    lehakhisH370754 times

  • הֵסִ֖ירhe removed

    hesirH5493299 times

  • יֹֽאשִׁיָּ֑הוּJosiah

    yoshiyahuH297753 times

  • וַיַּ֣עַשׂand he did

    vaiyaasH62132628 times

  • לָהֶ֔םto them

    lahem

  • כְּכָל־according to all

    kekhol-H36055413 times

  • הַֽמַּעֲשִׂ֔יםthe deeds

    hamaasimH4639236 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • עָשָׂ֖הhe had done

    ʾasahH62132628 times

  • בְּבֵֽית־at Beth-

    beveit-H1008142 times

  • אֵֽל׃-el

    ʾelH1008142 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 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…

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 18:4

      He 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…

    • 2 Chronicles 32:12

      Did not Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn sacrifices’?

    • Genesis 19:15

      At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

  • Through

    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…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 16:24

      He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city there, calling it Samaria after the name of Shemer, who had owned the hill.

    • 1 Kings 13:2

      And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, “O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of…

    • Leviticus 26:30

      I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

    • 1 Kings 12:31

      Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.

    • 2 Kings 23:16–19

      And 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,…

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.