Then they broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, and tore down the temple of Baal and made it a refuse dump to this day.
Parallel translations
- WEB They broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, to this day.
- KJV And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
- BSB They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.
- NASB They also tore down the memorial stone of Baal and tore down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine as it is to this day.
- NLT They smashed the sacred pillar and wrecked the temple of Baal, converting it into a public toilet, as it remains to this day.
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
Baal's pillar and temple are demolished and the site turned into a latrine, a lasting humiliation. The false god is shown to be powerless and unclean.
Overview
Converting the temple into a public toilet expresses utter contempt for Baal and his worship. The phrase 'to this day' notes the desecration endured into the writer's time. The scene declares the impotence of idols against the living God, whose reign Christ will consummate by abolishing every rival power.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezra 6:11I have also made a decree that whoever alters this message, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened on it; and let his house be made a dunghill for this.
- Dan 2:5The king answered the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if you don’t make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
- Dan 3:29Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything evil against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other god who is able to deliver after this sort.
- 1 Kgs 16:32He raised up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
- Deut 7:25You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
- 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.
- 2 Kgs 23:7–14He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in Yahweh’s house, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
- 2 Kgs 18:4He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
- 2 Chr 34:3–7For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images.
- Deut 7:5But you shall deal with them like this. You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire.
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 10:27 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.