They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
Parallel translations
- WEB They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.
- KJV They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
- NKJV They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
- NASB “They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
- NLT They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods; they provoked his fury with detestable deeds.
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
They provoked God to jealousy with strange gods and to anger with abominations. It matters because idolatry directly affronts God's exclusive covenant claim on His people.
Overview
Israel's turning to foreign gods is presented as a betrayal that rightly stirs God's jealousy. God's jealousy is not petty but the appropriate response of faithful covenant love to unfaithfulness. This depiction of idolatry as spiritual betrayal underscores why exclusive devotion to God matters, a devotion restored to His people through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 78:58They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.
- 1 Cor 10:22Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
- Deut 5:9You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
- Nah 1:1–2This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
- 2 Kgs 23:13The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
- Deut 7:25You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
- Lev 18:27For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled.
- 1 Kgs 14:22And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and by the sins they committed they provoked Him to jealous anger more than all their fathers had done.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 32:16 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.