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.
Parallel translations
- WEB However the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for Yahweh’s name.
- KJV Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.
- 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.
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 22:43He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He didn’t turn aside from it, doing that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes. However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
- 2 Chr 33:17Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only to Yahweh their God.
- Deut 12:2–5You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
- Lev 26:30I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you.
- 1 Chr 28:3–6But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood.’
- 1 Kgs 5:3“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of Yahweh his God because of the wars which were around him on every side, until Yahweh put his enemies under the soles of his feet.
- Acts 7:47–49But Solomon built him a house.
- 1 Chr 17:4–6“Go and tell David my servant, ‘Yahweh says, “You shall not build me a house to dwell in;
- Lev 17:3–6Whatever man there is of the house of Israel, who kills a bull, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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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