Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.
Parallel translations
- WEB However the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for Yahweh’s name.
- BSB The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built.
- NKJV Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.
- NASB The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.
- NLT At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the Lord had not yet been built.
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
The people still sacrificed at high places because the temple had not yet been built. The note explains a temporary irregularity in Israel's worship.
Overview
Before the temple centralized worship, the people offered sacrifices at local elevated sites, the 'high places.' The narrator notes this as a condition awaiting correction, since worship was meant to be unified at the place God would choose. The verse highlights Israel's need for the appointed dwelling of God's name, ultimately answered in Christ, in whom God fully dwells with His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Kgs 22:43And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.
- 2 Chr 33:17Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.
- Deut 12:2–5Ye 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:
- Lev 26:30And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
- 1 Chr 28:3–6But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood.
- 1 Kgs 5:3Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.
- Acts 7:47–49But Solomon built him an house.
- 1 Chr 17:4–6Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:
- Lev 17:3–6What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,
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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 3:2 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
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