1 Kings 14:23
New International Version
They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.

New Living Translation
For they also built for themselves pagan shrines and set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

English Standard Version
For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

Berean Standard Bible
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

King James Bible
For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

New King James Version
For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.

New American Standard Bible
For they, too, built for themselves high places, memorial stones, and Asherim on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree.

NASB 1995
For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree.

NASB 1977
For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree.

Legacy Standard Bible
They also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every green tree.

Amplified Bible
For they also built for themselves high places [to worship idols] and sacred pillars and Asherim [for the goddess Asherah]. These were on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree.

Christian Standard Bible
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree;

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree;

American Standard Version
For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they built up for themselves also those high places and statues and idols on every high hill that there was, and under every shade tree.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they built for themselves high places, and pillars, and planted groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree.

Contemporary English Version
They also built their own local shrines and stone images of foreign gods, and they set up sacred poles for worshiping the goddess Asherah on every hill and in the shade of large trees.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For they also built them altars, and statues, and groves upon every high hill and under every green tree:

English Revised Version
For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They built worship sites for themselves and [put up] large stones and Asherah poles to worship on every high hill and under every large tree.

Good News Translation
They built places of worship for false gods and put up stone pillars and symbols of Asherah to worship on the hills and under shady trees.

International Standard Version
They erected high places, sacred pillars, and Asherim for themselves on every high hill and under every green tree.

JPS Tanakh 1917
For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every leafy tree;

Literal Standard Version
And they build—they also—for themselves high places, and standing-pillars, and Asherim, on every high height, and under every green tree;

Majority Standard Bible
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

New American Bible
They, too, built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and asherahs, upon every high hill and under every green tree.

NET Bible
They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

New Revised Standard Version
For they also built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree;

New Heart English Bible
For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;

Webster's Bible Translation
For they also built for themselves high places, and images and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

World English Bible
For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

Young's Literal Translation
And they build -- also they -- for themselves high places, and standing-pillars, and shrines, on every high height, and under every green tree;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Rehoboam's Reign in Judah
22And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and by the sins they committed they provoked Him to jealous anger more than all their fathers had done. 23They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 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.…

Cross References
Exodus 34:13
Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.

Deuteronomy 12:2
Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods--atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

Deuteronomy 16:22
and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

1 Kings 14:15
For the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that He gave their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.

1 Kings 15:12
He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

1 Kings 20:23
Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, "Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they prevailed over us. Instead, we should fight them on the plains; surely then we will prevail.

2 Kings 10:26
They brought out the sacred pillar of the temple of Baal and burned it.


Treasury of Scripture

For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

built

1 Kings 3:2
Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.

Deuteronomy 12:2
Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

Isaiah 57:5
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?

images.

Leviticus 26:1
Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

groves

Micah 5:14
And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.

Deuteronomy 12:2
Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

2 Kings 17:9,10
And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city…

under every

Isaiah 57:5
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?

Jeremiah 3:13
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

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Asherah Asherahs Asherim Ashe'rim Beneath Build Built Columns Green Groves Height High Hill Images Leafy Pillars Places Poles Sacred Shrines Standing-Pillars Stones Themselves Tree Upright Wood
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Asherah Asherahs Asherim Ashe'rim Beneath Build Built Columns Green Groves Height High Hill Images Leafy Pillars Places Poles Sacred Shrines Standing-Pillars Stones Themselves Tree Upright Wood
1 Kings 14
1. Abijah being sick,
2. Jeroboam sends his wife, disguised, with presents to the prophet Ahijah
5. Ahijah forewarned by God, denounces God's judgment
17. Abijah dies, and is buried
19. Nadab succeeds Jeroboam
21. Rehoboam's wicked reign,
25. Shishak raids Jerusalem
29. Abijam succeeds Rehoboam














(23) High places, and images, and groves.--On the "high places," see 1Kings 3:2, and Note there. The "images" of this passage seem undoubtedly to have been stone pillars, as the "groves" (i.e., the asherahs) were wooden stumps of trees (possibly in both cases surmounted by some rude representation of the deity worshipped). The first mention of such a pillar is in Genesis 28:18; Genesis 31:13; Genesis 35:14, there applied to the stone which Jacob raises and anoints, in order to mark the scene of the vision at Bethel; next, we find repeated commands to destroy them (with the asherahs also) as erected by the Canaanites (Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:13; Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3), and to suffer neither near the altar of the Lord (Deuteronomy 16:21). Like the high places, it seems plain that both might be either unauthorised emblems of God's presence or images of false gods; and, indeed, the stone pillar appears in some cases to be associated with the worship of Baal, as the Asherah with that of Ashtoreth. In this passage, from the strength of the language used, and from the notice in 1Kings 14:24, it seems that the grosser idolatry is referred to. It was practised "on every high hill, and every shady tree"--such trees as were notable for size and shade in the bareness of the hills of Palestine. . . . Verse 23. - For they also [i.e., they as well as the ten tribes] built them high places [i.e., houses of high places. See on 1 Kings 3:2 and 1 Kings 13:32] and images [Heb. pillars or statues (מַצֵּבות; LXX., στήλας). These were, no doubt, originally memorial pillars or stones, erected to commemorate some Divine manifestation, and with no thought of idolatry (see Genesis 31:13; Genesis 35:14, 20; Genesis 28:18). But the Canaanites erected pillars, which were also statues or images, to their god, Baal. Hence we read of the "image" (מַצֵּבָה) of Baal (2 Kings 3:2; 2 Kings 10:26, 27; cf. 18:4; 23. 14); and hence also we find such images frequently mentioned side by side with the so-called "groves," i.e., the "Asherahs" (ver. 15; Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3; Deuteronomy 16:21, etc.) Both the Mazzebah and the Asherah, consequently, was an upright pillar or post, but the former was of stone, the latter of wood; the former dedicated to Baal, the god of nature, of generation; the latter to Ashtoreth, the goddess of nature and productive power. The gradual transition of the memorial pillar into the Baal statue is hinted at in Leviticus 26:1. It is observable that these idolatrous and immoral rites seem to have found a home in Judah before they were introduced into Israel] and groves [Asherahs, idols; see on ver. 15. This verse proves conclusively that the translation "grove" is a mistaken one] on every high hill, and under every green tree. [The phrase is from the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy 12:2; cf. Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:6; Hosea 4:13. "Probably the evil example of Maachah, his favourite wife (2 Chronicles 11:20-22), whose idolatrous tastes were displayed under Asa (2 Chronicles 15:16), was not without a pernicious effect on Rehoboam" (Wordsworth).]

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
They
הֵ֧מָּה (hêm·māh)
Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

also
גַם־ (ḡam-)
Conjunction
Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and

built
וַיִּבְנ֨וּ (way·yiḇ·nū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1129: To build

for themselves
לָהֶ֛ם (lā·hem)
Preposition-l | Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

high places,
בָּמ֥וֹת (bā·mō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 1116: An elevation

sacred pillars,
וּמַצֵּב֖וֹת (ū·maṣ·ṣê·ḇō·wṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 4676: Something stationed, a column, an idol

and Asherah poles
וַאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים (wa·’ă·šê·rîm)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 842: A Phoenician goddess, also an image of the same

on
עַ֚ל (‘al)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

every
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

high
גְבֹהָ֔ה (ḡə·ḇō·hāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 1364: Elevated, powerful, arrogant

hill
גִּבְעָ֣ה (giḇ·‘āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1389: A hillock

and under
וְתַ֖חַת (wə·ṯa·ḥaṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 8478: The bottom, below, in lieu of

every
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

green
רַעֲנָֽן׃ (ra·‘ă·nān)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7488: Verdant, new, prosperous

tree.
עֵ֥ץ (‘êṣ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6086: Tree, trees, wood


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OT History: 1 Kings 14:23 For they also built them high places (1Ki iKi i Ki 1 Kg 1kg)
1 Kings 14:22
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