He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
Parallel translations
- WEB He put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- KJV And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- NKJV And he banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- NASB He also removed the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols which his fathers had made.
- NLT He banished the male and female shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Asa removes the cult prostitutes and the idols his fathers had made. His reform attacks the idolatry that had spread through Judah.
Overview
Asa actively reverses the corruption introduced under Rehoboam and Abijam. Removing the cult prostitutes and idols shows concrete obedience, not mere good intentions. The verse models genuine reform as the active removal of sin, not just outward religious activity.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Kgs 22:46He banished from the land the male shrine prostitutes who remained from the days of his father Asa.
- 1 Kgs 14:23–24They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
- 1 Kgs 11:7–8At 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.
- 2 Chr 14:2–5And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.
- Jude 1:7In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.
- 1 Pet 1:18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
- Rom 1:26–27For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
- Zech 1:2–6“The LORD was very angry with your fathers.
- Ezek 20:18–19In the wilderness I said to their children: ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols.
- 1 Kgs 15:3And Abijam walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed, and his heart was not as fully devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his forefather had been.
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 15:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.