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Selected Verse: 2 Kings 21:3 - World English

Verse         Translation Text
2Ki 21:3 World English 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.
  King James 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.

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The first step in the re-establishment of idolatry seems to have been the restoration of the high places where Yahweh was professedly worshipped Kg2 18:22, but with idolatrous rites Kg1 14:23. The next was to re-introduce the favorite idolatry of Israel, Baal-worship, which had formerly flourished in Judaea under Athaliah Kg2 11:18, and Ahaz Ch2 28:2. After this, Manasseh seems to have especially affected Sabaism, which had been previously unknown in Judaea (compare Kg2 17:16 and note).

Worshipped all the host of heaven - Sabaism, or pure star-worship, without images, and without astrological superstitions, included a reverence for the sun, the moon, the chief stars, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac (Kg2 23:5 note). The main worship was by altars, on which incense was burned Jer 19:13. These altars were placed either upon the ground Kg2 21:5, or upon the house-tops Kg2 23:12; Zep 1:5. The sun was worshipped with the face toward the east Eze 8:16; chariots and horses were dedicated to him Kg2 23:11. The star-worship of the Jews has far more the character of an Arabian than an Assyrian or Chaldaean cult. It obtained its hold at a time when Assyria and Babylonia had but little communication with Judaea - i. e., during the reign of Manasseh. It crept in probably from the same quarter as the Molech worship, with which it is here (and in Ch2 33:3-6) conjoined.
 
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3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.
4 He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, "My name shall be in Jerusalem forever."
5 He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.
6 He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he practiced sorcery, and used enchantments, and practiced sorcery, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.
11 He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, by the room of Nathan Melech the officer, who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
16 He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh's house; and see, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east.
5 those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam,
12 The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, and beat [them] down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.
5 He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.
13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.
5 He put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.
16 They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for the Baals.
18 All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down; his altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over the house of Yahweh.
23 For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;
22 But if you tell me, 'We trust in Yahweh our God;' isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?'
7 He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever;
10 and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;