“They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
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.
- BSB They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
- NKJV They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign 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 78:58For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
- 1 Cor 10:22Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
- Deut 5:9You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me;
- Nah 1:1–2A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
- 2 Kgs 23:13The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon.
- Deut 7:25You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
- Lev 18:27(for the men of the land that were before you had done all these abominations, and the land became defiled);
- 1 Kgs 14:22Judah did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
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.