They had followed the practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them, as well as the practices the kings of Israel had introduced.
Parallel translations
- WEB and walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.
- KJV And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
- BSB and walked in the customs of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites, as well as in the practices introduced by the kings of Israel.
- NKJV and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
- NASB They also followed the customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.
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
Israel adopted the pagan customs God had driven out and the practices their own kings introduced. They embraced both Canaanite and royally sponsored sin.
Overview
The people walked in the very statutes of the nations God had dispossessed for those sins. They also followed the corrupt innovations of Israel's kings, especially Jeroboam's calf worship. By imitating the nations rather than remaining holy, Israel forfeited the distinct, set-apart calling God had given them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 2 Kgs 16:3But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel.
- Deut 18:9When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations.
- Lev 18:3You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived: and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.
- Ps 106:35but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.
- Deut 12:30–31be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
- 1 Kgs 16:31–33As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.
- Hos 5:11Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; Because he is intent in his pursuit of idols.
- 2 Kgs 17:19Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
- Jer 10:2Yahweh says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.
- 1 Kgs 12:28So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
- Mic 6:16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of Ahab’s house. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach of my people.”
- Lev 18:27–30(for the men of the land that were before you had done all these abominations, and the land became defiled);
- 2 Kgs 21:2He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.
- 1 Kgs 21:26He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.
- 2 Kgs 16:10King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it.
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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 17:8 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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