2 Kings 23:7
in 2 Kings 23He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
KJV
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
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This verse in 2 Kings 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe houses of the sodomites - We have already often met with these קדשים kedeshim or consecrated persons. The word implies all kinds of prostitutes, as well as abusers of themselves with mankind. Wove hangings for the grove - For Asherah; curtains or tent coverings for the places where the rites of the impure goddess were performed. See at the end of 2Ki 21:26 (note).
This site's exposition
houses of the sodomites
on 2 Kings 23:7-9
The houses of the shrine prostitutes stood inside the temple precinct itself, where women wove hangings for the Asherah, and Josiah tears them down first among the city's idolatry; Henry counts this the worst defilement the narrative names, a brothel kept at God's own house. The country priests who had burned incense at the high places from Geba to Beersheba are brought to Jerusalem and stood down, though verse 9 lets them eat the unleavened bread among their brethren without serving at the altar. The arrangement follows the law's own treatment of a priest disqualified by blemish, supported but never restored to the altar itself.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And he brake down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord,....
Those did ill that made our Father's house a house of merchandise; those did worse that made it a den of thieves; but those did worst of all that made it ( Horrendum dictu! -- Horrible to relate! ) a brothel, in an impudent defiance of the holiness of God and of his temple.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
These irregularities, even though the object of that worship was the true God, were prohibited in the law (De 12:11). Those who had been guilty of this sin, Josiah brought to Jerusalem.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּתֹּץ֙ | vaiyitotz | and he broke down | H5422 → | 42 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בָּתֵּ֣י | batei | [the] houses of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| הַקְּדֵשִׁ֔ים | hakedeshim | the male cult prostitutes | H6945 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֖ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בְּבֵ֣ית | beveit | [were] in [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | where | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הַנָּשִׁ֗ים | hanashim | the women | H802 → | 781 times |
| אֹרְג֥וֹת | ʾoregoyt | [were] weaving | H707 → | |
| שָׁ֛ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| בָּתִּ֖ים | batim | containers | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| לָאֲשֵׁרָֽה׃ | laasherah | for <the> Asherah | H842 → | 40 times |
וַיִּתֹּץ֙and he broke down
vaiyitotzH5422 →42 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בָּתֵּ֣י[the] houses of
bateiH1004 →2046 times
הַקְּדֵשִׁ֔יםthe male cult prostitutes
hakedeshimH6945 →
אֲשֶׁ֖רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
בְּבֵ֣ית[were] in [the] house of
beveitH1004 →2046 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhere
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
הַנָּשִׁ֗יםthe women
hanashimH802 →781 times
אֹרְג֥וֹת[were] weaving
ʾoregoytH707 →
שָׁ֛םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
בָּתִּ֖יםcontainers
batimH1004 →2046 times
לָאֲשֵׁרָֽה׃for <the> Asherah
laasherahH842 →40 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
1 Kings 15:12He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 22:46
He banished from the land the male shrine prostitutes who remained from the days of his father Asa.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 14:23–24
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
- Romans 1:26–27
For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
- 1 Kings 11:7–8
At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.
- 1 Kings 22:46
Through
1 Kings 14:24There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 23:17
No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
- 1 Kings 15:12
He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
- Genesis 19:5
They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”
- Deuteronomy 23:17
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.