But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
Parallel translations
- WEB However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
- BSB Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.
- NKJV But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
- NASB Only the high places did not end; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
- NLT Yet even so, he did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there.
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
Despite his good reign, Joash leaves the high places standing, where people kept sacrificing. The reform of worship remains incomplete.
Overview
The persistent high places were unauthorized worship sites that competed with the temple. Like several good kings of Judah, Joash failed to remove them fully. This recurring shortfall shows how hard it was to root out entrenched practices and underscores the need for the perfect worship that Christ establishes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 2 Kgs 14:4Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.
- 2 Kgs 18:4He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
- 2 Kgs 15:35Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.
- 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.
- 1 Kgs 15:14But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect with the LORD all his days.
- 2 Chr 31:4Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD.
- Jer 2:20For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
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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 12:3 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.