And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
Parallel translations
- WEB He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
- BSB And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
- NKJV And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
- NASB And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
- NLT He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the pagan shrines and on the hills and under every green tree.
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
Ahaz sacrificed and burned incense at the high places, hills, and under every green tree. He fully embraced Canaanite-style idolatry.
Overview
The phrase 'under every green tree' is shorthand for the pervasive fertility worship of the Canaanites that Israel was commanded to destroy. Ahaz not only tolerated but actively practiced this idolatry throughout the land. His promotion of false worship corrupted Judah and provoked the LORD, setting the spiritual backdrop for the Assyrian crisis.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Deut 12:2Ye 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:
- 1 Kgs 14:23For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
- Isa 66:17They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
- Isa 57:5–7Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
- 2 Kgs 14:4Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.
- Jer 17:2Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
- Isa 65:4Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
- Ezek 20:28–29For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.
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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 16:4 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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