KJV King James Version
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
VERSE STUDY • KJV
2 Kings 21:3
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
Read it in 5 translations
BSB Berean Standard Bible
For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.
WEB World English Bible
For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.
ASV American Standard Version
For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
YLT Young’s Literal Translation
and he turneth and buildeth the high places that Hezekiah his father destroyed, and raiseth altars for Baal, and maketh a shrine, as did Ahab king of Israel, and boweth himself to all the host of the heavens, and serveth them.
Surrounding context — 2 Kings 21
1 Manasseh [was] twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Hephzibah.
2 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke [him] to anger.
Topics connected to this verse
Original-language word links
These Hebrew/Greek tokens are linked by Strong's number. Click one for its lexicon definition and other occurrences.
וַיָּ֗שָׁבH7725 · shuvto return: returnוַיִּ֙בֶן֙H1129 · ba.nahto buildאֶת־H853 · et[Obj.]הַבָּמ֔וֹתH1116 · ba.mahhigh placeאֲשֶׁ֥רH834 · a.sherwhichאִבַּ֖דH6 · a.vadto perishחִזְקִיָּ֣הוּH2396 · chiz.qiy.yahHezekiahאָבִ֑יוH1 · avfatherוַיָּ֨קֶםH6965 · qa.may(Leb)-kamaiמִזְבְּחֹ֜תH4196 · miz.be.achaltarלַבַּ֗עַלH1168 · ba.alBaalוַיַּ֤עַשׂH6213 · a.sahto make: doאֲשֵׁרָה֙H842 · a.she.rahAsherahכַּאֲשֶׁ֣רH834 · a.sherwhichעָשָׂ֗הH6213 · a.sahto make: doאַחְאָב֙H256 · ach.avAhabמֶ֣לֶךְH4428 · me.lekhkingיִשְׂרָאֵ֔לH3478 · yis.ra.elIsraelוַיִּשְׁתַּ֙חוּ֙H7812 · sha.chahto bowלְכָל־H3605 · kolallצְבָ֣אH6635 · tsa.vaarmyהַשָּׁמַ֔יִםH8064 · sha.ma.yimheavenוַֽיַּעֲבֹ֖דH5647 · a.vadto serveאֹתָֽם׃H853 · et[Obj.]
Cross-references
2 Kings 18:4He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.2 Kings 17:16And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, [even] two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.1 Kings 16:31-33And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.Deuteronomy 17:3And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;Deuteronomy 4:19And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.1 Kings 18:26And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed [it], and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But [there was] no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.Micah 6:16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.1 Kings 18:21And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD [be] God, follow him: but if Baal, [then] follow him. And the people answered him not a word.2 Kings 23:4-5And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.2 Chronicles 34:3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.Job 31:26If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness;2 Kings 8:27And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as [did] the house of Ahab: for he [was] the son in law of the house of Ahab.2 Kings 8:18And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.2 Chronicles 33:3-5For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.2 Kings 10:18-20And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; [but] Jehu shall serve him much.2 Kings 18:22But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: [is] not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?2 Chronicles 32:12Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION
Compare classic commentaries on 2 Kings 21:3
Put Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, Calvin, Wesley, Barnes, Jamieson–Fausset–Brown, Aquinas’ Catena and other public-domain sources beside the passage.
Compare commentaries →