On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
Parallel translations
- KJV Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
- BSB On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.
- NKJV “Ona lofty and high mountain You have set your bed; Even there you went up To offer sacrifice.
- NASB “On a high and lofty mountain You have made your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
- NLT You have committed adultery on every high mountain. There you have worshiped idols and have been unfaithful to me.
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 set their bed of idolatry on a high mountain and went up to offer sacrifices there. It matters because it pictures spiritual adultery committed openly on the pagan high places.
Overview
Using marriage-bed imagery, the prophet depicts idol worship on the 'high and lofty mountain' as brazen unfaithfulness to God. The high places were notorious sites of illicit worship throughout Israel's history. The verse continues the portrayal of idolatry as adultery against the LORD, the faithful husband of His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ezek 16:16You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shall not come, neither shall it be.
- Ezek 23:41and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.
- Jer 2:20“For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.
- Ezek 20:28–29For when I had brought them into the land, which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their pleasant aroma, and they poured out there their drink offerings.
- Jer 3:6Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there.
- Ezek 16:25You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution.
- Jer 3:2“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.
- Ezek 23:17The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution. She was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 57:7 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
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.