2 Kings 17:16

And 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.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
left	וַיַּעַזְב֗וּ vai.ya.'az.Vu	H5800	to loosen · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
commandments	מִצְוֹת֙ mitz.Vot	H4687	a command · noun, common feminine plural construct
LORD	יְהוָ֣ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God	אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֔ם 'e.lo.hei.Hem	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
made	וַיַּעֲשׂ֥וּ vai.ya.'a.Su	H6213	to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
images	מַסֵּכָ֖ה ma.se.Khah	H4541	properly · noun, common feminine dual absolute
two	שְׁנֵ֣י she.neim	H8147	two · noun, common both genders dual construct
calves	עֲגָלִ֑ים 'a.ga.Lim	H5695	a (male) calf (as frisking round) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
made	וַיַּעֲשׂ֣וּ vai.ya.'a.Su	H6213	to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
grove	אֲשֵׁירָ֗ה 'a.shei.Rah	H842	Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess · noun, feminine singular absolute
worshipped	וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲווּ֙ vai.yish.ta.cha.Vu	H7812	to depress · conjunction + verb, sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
host	צְבָ֣א tze.Va'	H6635	a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common masculine singular construct
heaven	הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם ha.sha.Ma.yim	H8064	the sky (as aloft · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
served	וַיַּעַבְד֖וּ vai.ya.'av.Du	H5647	to work (in any sense) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Baal	הַבָּֽעַל ha.Ba.'al	H1168	Baal · definite article + noun, masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 Kings 12:28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy g…
1 Kings 14:15 For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their…
1 Kings 14:23 For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
1 Kings 16:31 And 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…
Deuteronomy 4:19 And 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, shoulde…
1 Kings 15:13 And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and…
1 Kings 16:33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
1 Kings 22:53 For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 17:7-23

Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes was but briefly related, it is in these verses largely commented upon by our historian, and the reasons of it assigned, not taken from the second causes - the weakness of Israel, their impolitic management, and the strength and growing greatness of the Assyrian monarch (these things are overlooked) - but only from the First Cause. Observe, 1. It was the Lord that removed Israel out of his sight; whoever were the instruments, he was the author of this calamity. It was destruction from the Almighty; the Assyrian was but the rod of his anger, Isa 10:5. It was the Lord that rejected the seed of Israel, else their enemies could not have seiz…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 17:7

SAMARIA TAKEN, AND ISRAEL FOR THEIR SINS CARRIED CAPTIVE. (2Ki. 17:7-41) For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned--There is here given a very full and impressive vindication of the divine procedure in punishing His highly privileged, but rebellious and apostate, people. No wonder that amid so gross a perversion of the worship of the true God, and the national propensity to do reverence to idols, the divine patience was exhausted; and that the God whom they had forsaken permitted them to go into captivity, that they might learn the difference between His service and that of their despotic conquerors.

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 17:13

Yet the Lord testified against Israel - What rendered their conduct the more inexcusable was, that the Lord had preserved among them a succession of prophets, who testified against their conduct, and preached repentance to them, and the readiness of God to forgive, provided they would return unto him, and give up their idolatries.

John Gill on 2 Kings 17:16

And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God,.... Which their idolatry led them to; and indeed he that offends in one point is guilty of them all, James 2:10. and made them molten images, even two calves; which they set up at Dan and Bethel, in the times of their first king Jeroboam, 1 Kings 13:28. and made a grove; as Ahab, another of their kings, did, 1 Kings 16:33. and worshipped all the host of heaven: not the angels, sometimes so called, but, besides the sun and moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus: and served Baal; which was service to the sun, as Abarbinel interprets it; this was the god of the Zidonians Ahab worshipped, having married a princess of that people,…

Dictionary and topics

Baal — Lord. (1.) The name appropriated to the principal male god of the Phoenicians. It is found in several places in the plural BAALIM (Judg. 2:11; 10:10; 1 Kings 18:18; Jer. 2:23; Hos. 2:17). Baal is…
Host of heaven — The sun, moon, and stars are so designated (Gen. 2:1). When the Jews fell into idolatry they worshipped these (Deut. 4:19; 2 Kings 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:5; Jer. 19:13; Zeph. 1:5; Acts 7:42).
Stars — The eleven stars (Gen. 37:9); the seven (Amos 5:8); wandering (Jude 1:13); seen in the east at the birth of Christ, probably some luminous meteors miraculously formed for this specific purpose (Matt.…
Assyria · Israelites — Israelites
Baal · .By the kingdom of Israel — .By the kingdom of Israel
Babylon · .Samaria — .Samaria
Forsaking God · Exemplified: Kingdom of Israel — Exemplified: Kingdom of Israel
Groves · Worshiped by Israelites — Worshiped by Israelites
Idolatry · Captivity of Israel on account of — Captivity of Israel on account of
Judgments · .Into the hands of the Assyrians — .Into the hands of the Assyrians
Stars · Worshiped — Worshiped

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

2 Kings 17:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 17:7-23

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 17:7

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 17:13

John Gill on 2 Kings 17:16

Dictionary and topics

2 Kings 17:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 17:7-23

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 17:7

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 17:13

John Gill on 2 Kings 17:16

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 17:7-23

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Kings 17:16-17

Rashi on 2 Kings 17:16