And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
Parallel translations
- WEB He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in Yahweh’s house, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
- BSB He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
- NKJV Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.
- NASB And he tore down the cubicles of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.
- NLT He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the Lord, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.
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
Josiah tears down the houses of the cult prostitutes within the temple precincts. He uproots even the most degrading corruptions of true worship.
Overview
Ritual prostitution, tied to fertility cults, had defiled the very house of God, showing how deep Judah's apostasy ran. Josiah's removal of these practices restores the moral as well as ceremonial purity of worship. Scripture's call to flee sexual immorality and worship God in holiness finds its fulfillment in the gospel, which cleanses and sanctifies God's temple, the church (1 Cor. 6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 16:16And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
- 1 Kgs 15:12And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- 1 Kgs 14:24And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
- Exod 35:25–26And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
- Hos 2:13And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
- 2 Chr 34:33And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
- Ezek 8:14Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
- Rom 1:26–27For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
- Gen 19:4–5But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
- 1 Kgs 22:46And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.
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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 23:7 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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