However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.
Parallel translations
- KJV Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
- BSB Nevertheless, the people of each nation continued to make their own gods in the cities where they had settled, and they set them up in the shrines that the people of Samaria had made on the high places.
- NKJV However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt.
- NASB But every nation was still making gods of its own, and they put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.
- NLT But these various groups of foreigners also continued to worship their own gods. In town after town where they lived, they placed their idols at the pagan shrines that the people of Samaria had 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
Each nation also made its own gods and placed them in the high-place shrines. The settlers added their idols to the worship of the land.
Overview
Alongside any instruction about the LORD, every group of settlers continued making and worshiping its own national gods. They reused the high-place shrines built earlier by the Israelites for their idolatry. This mixture of devotions epitomizes the syncretism that the narrator condemns throughout the chapter.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Kgs 12:31He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
- Mic 4:5Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Hos 8:5–6Let Samaria throw out his calf idol! My anger burns against them! How long will it be until they are capable of purity?
- Isa 44:9–20Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
- Jer 10:3–5For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
- 1 Kgs 13:32For the saying which he cried by Yahweh’s word against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen.”
- Ps 135:15–18The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Rom 1:23and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.
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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 17:29 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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