So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
Parallel translations
- WEB So these nations feared Yahweh, and also served their engraved images. Their children likewise, and their children’s children, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.
- BSB So these nations worshiped the LORD but also served their idols, and to this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.
- NKJV So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.
- NASB So while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, just as their fathers did, they do to this day.
- NLT So while these new residents worshiped the Lord, they also worshiped their idols. And to this day their descendants do the same.
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 resettled nations in Samaria outwardly feared Yahweh while still serving their idols, a divided loyalty passed down for generations. It shows that mingling worship of the true God with idolatry is not true faith.
Overview
This verse closes the account of how Assyria repopulated the northern kingdom with foreign peoples who blended a fear of Yahweh with continued idol worship. Such syncretism is precisely the half-hearted devotion God condemns, for he calls for whole-hearted, exclusive worship (Exodus 20:3). The phrase 'to this day' marks the persistence of this compromised religion among the people later called Samaritans. The gospel answers this divided heart by giving a new heart that loves God singly through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Matt 6:24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
- 1 Kgs 18:21And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
- Zeph 1:5And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;
- 2 Kgs 17:32–33So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
- Josh 24:14–20Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
- Rev 3:15–16I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
- Ezra 4:1–3Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;
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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 17:41 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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