Then I said to them, ‘What is this high place to which you go?’ So its name is called Bamah to this day.” ’
Parallel translations
- WEB Then I said to them, ‘What does the high place where you go mean?’ So its name is called Bamah to this day. ”’
- KJV Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.
- BSB So I asked them: ‘What is this high place to which you go?’ (And to this day it is called Bamah.)
- NASB Then I said to them, ‘What is the high place to which you go?’ So its name is called Bamah to this day.” ’
- NLT I said to them, ‘What is this high place where you are going?’ (This kind of pagan shrine has been called Bamah—‘high place’—ever since.)
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
God mocks the high place, asking what it means, and notes its name remains 'Bamah,' meaning high place. The persistence of these shrines testified to Israel's entrenched idolatry.
Overview
The wordplay on 'Bamah' (high place) exposes the absurdity and offense of worship offered apart from God's command. These shrines, scattered across the land, became lasting monuments to covenant unfaithfulness. The verse reinforces that human-devised worship, however common, cannot replace the worship God Himself ordains.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Ezek 16:24–25“that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.
- Ezek 16:31in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay.
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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.