but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back;
Parallel Translations
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but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back;
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But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:
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but hast done evil above all that were before thee, and hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke Me, and hast cast Me behind thy back;
Cross-references (30)
Passages linked to 1 Kings 14:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Nehemiah 9:26 “Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies.
- Psalms 50:17 since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
- Ezekiel 23:35 “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.’ ”
- 1 Kings 12:28 So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
- 2 Chronicles 11:15 He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.
- Exodus 34:17 “You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
- 1 Corinthians 10:22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
- Psalms 78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
- Psalms 106:29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them.
- Psalms 115:4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell. They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat. Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.
- Isaiah 44:9-20 Everyone who makes a carved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed. Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together. The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house. He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it. Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it, and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself, and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.” The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me; for you are my god!” They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand. No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?” He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
- Jeremiah 7:9-10 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations?
- Jeremiah 10:14-16 Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.
- Ezekiel 8:3 He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north; where there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.
- Ezekiel 8:17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose.
- Deuteronomy 9:8-16 Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you. When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. Yahweh delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly. It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant. Yahweh said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!” Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.” So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a molded calf. You had quickly turned away from the way which Yahweh had commanded you.
- Deuteronomy 9:24 You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.
- Deuteronomy 32:16-17 They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations. They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.
- Deuteronomy 32:21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
- Judges 5:8 They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
- 1 Kings 13:33-34 After this thing Jeroboam didn’t return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places. This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.
- 1 Kings 14:16 He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin.”
- 1 Kings 14:22 Judah 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.
- 1 Kings 15:34 He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.
- 1 Kings 16:31 As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.
- 2 Kings 21:3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he raised up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.
- 2 Kings 23:26 Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.
- 2 Chronicles 33:6 He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits and with wizards. He did much evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger.
- Psalms 78:56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn’t keep his testimonies,
- Psalms 106:19-20 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image. Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To wit, two calves.
To wit, two calves.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Ki 14:9 But hast done evil above all that…
1Ki 14:9 But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:
Ver. 9. But hast done evil above all that were before thee.] Not Saul and Solomon only, but the kings of the heathens also, - as Tostatus maketh the sense, - because they knew no better: but he fell with eyes open.
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And hast cast me behind thy back.] Hast laid me aside and set light by me, quasi non satis essem ad ulciscendas iniurias, as if I were nobody with thee, nor had power to punish thee. Thou hast both despised and despited me. See on Psa 50:17 Neh 9:26.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Above all that were before thee; above all the…
Above all that were before thee; above all the former kings of my people, as Saul, and Solomon, and Rehoboam.
Other gods, and molten images, or other gods, to wit, (for so and oft signifies among the Hebrews, as hath been formerly noted,)
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molten images, namely, the golden calves; which he calls others gods, not as if the Israelites esteemed the calves made of their own gold to be gods indeed, which it is incredible should find belief with any man in his wits, especially with the whole body of the Israelites, who knew that the ark and cherubims, though made by God’s special direction, were not gods, but only pledges of God’s presence, &c.; nor as if they thought them to be
other gods in a strict and proper sense; for it is apparent that they still pretended to worship the God of their fathers, as the Jews at Jerusalem did, though in a differing manner: but only because God rejected their whole worship; and howsoever they called or accounted it, he reckoned it a manifest defection from him, and a betaking of themselves to other gods, or devils, as they are called, 2Ch 11:15, by whose instigation they were led to such idolatrous practices, and whom alone they served and worshipped therein, whatsoever pretences they had to the contrary.
To provoke me to anger, i.e. whereby thou didst provoke me; for otherwise this was not Jeroboam’s design in it, but only to establish himself in the throne.
Cast me behind thy back; despised, and disregarded, and forsaken me, and my commands, and my worship, as we do things which we cast behind our backs.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house…
Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam,.... Calamities, destruction, and ruin:
and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall; not leave a dog of his, or rather a male, see Sa1 25:22.
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and him that is shut up and left in Israel; in garrisons or in prisons, in cities or in fields, or in whatsoever situation or circumstances they may be. Some interpret it of wealth and substance; it signifies an entire destruction it may be of men and goods, see Deu 32:36.
and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone; signifying that Jeroboam's family was as loathsome and abominable to the Lord as dung is to men; and that he would make as clean a riddance of them as men do of dung when they sweep it out, and will not leave the least scrap behind.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Above all - Above all the former kings of…
Above all - Above all the former kings of my people, as Saul, and Solomon, and Rehoboam. Images - Namely the golden calves: not as if they thought them to be other gods in a proper sense; for it is apparent they still pretended to worship the God of their fathers, but because God rejected their whole worship, and, howsoever they accounted it, he reckoned it a manifest defection from him, and a betaking themselves to other gods, or devils, as they are called, 2 Chron. xi, 15, whom alone they served and worshipped therein, whatsoever pretenses they had to the contrary. To provoke - Whereby thou didst provoke me. For otherwise this was not Jeroboam's design in it, but only to establish himself in the throne. Hast cast - Despised and forsaken me, and my commands, and my worship, as we do things which we cast behind our backs.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ki 14:9. But hast done evil above all that…
1Ki 14:9. But hast done evil above all that were before thee — Above all the judges and former kings of my people, none of whom set up images, and persuaded the people to worship them. For thou hast made thee other gods, and molten images — Namely, the golden calves: not as if they thought them to be other gods in a proper sense, but only representations of the true God; for it is apparent they still pretended to worship the God of their fathers; but because God rejected their whole worship, and, howsoever they accounted it, he reckoned it a manifest defection from him, and a betaking themselves to other gods, or devils, as they are called 2Ch 11:15, whom alone they served and worshipped therein, whatsoever pretences they had to the contrary. To provoke — Whereby thou didst provoke me. For otherwise this was not Jeroboam’s design in it, but only to establish himself in the throne. And hast cast me behind thy back — Despised and forsaken me, and my commands, and my worship, as we do things which we cast behind our backs.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Above all that were before thee - i. e.,…
Above all that were before thee - i. e., above all previous rulers of the people, whether Judges or kings. Hereto none of the rulers of Israel had set up the idolatrous worship of ephod, teraphim, and the like Jdg 18:17, as a substitute for the true religion, or sought to impose an idolatrous system on the nation. Gideon’s ephod “became a snare” contrary to his intention Jdg 8:27. Solomon’s high places were private - built for the use of his wives, and not designed to attract the people. Jeroboam was the first ruler who set himself to turn the Israelites away from the true worship, and established a poor counterfeit of it, which he strove to make, and succeeded in making, the religion of the great mass of his subjects.
And hast cast me behind thy back - A very strong and very rare expression, occurring again only in Eze 23:35; where it is said of the Jews generally, shortly before the captivity. The expressions in the marginal references are similar but less fearful.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Strange gods; that is, foreign gods: which expression destroys…
Strange gods; that is, foreign gods: which expression destroys the opinion of those who imagine that Jeroboam designed by his calves to worship the Lord God of Israel. (Challoner) --- Back. Literally, "body."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. Cast me behind thy back — An expression…
9. Cast me behind thy back — An expression the exact opposite of having God before one’s eyes, and denoting in the strongest manner the utter rejection of the counsels of Jehovah. Compare Ezekiel xxiii, 35.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. but hast done evil above all that were…
9. but hast done evil above all that were before thee] This must refer not only to the kings who had preceded Jeroboam, but to the cases of idolatry in the earlier days, e.g. of the Judges. There had been no such instance of sin in the lives of David or of Saul, and Solomon’s transgression had been the building of temples and the setting up of images for his strange wives, who were already idolaters.
for thou hast gone] R.V. ‘and thou hast gone’. The conjunction is the simple copulative.
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other gods] So certain was the making of an image, even if it was to represent Jehovah, to lead to the introduction of false worship, that God speaks of it as already effected.
and hast cast me behind thy back] An expression indicative of the extremest contempt. It is used Neh_9:26 of the whole national sin which led to the captivity, and in Eze_23:35, where the prophet is describing the apostasy of Aholibah.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) But hast done evil above all that were…
(9) But hast done evil above all that were before thee.—The language is strong, in the face of the many instances of the worship of false gods in the days of the Judges, and the recent apostasy of Solomon—to say nothing of the idolatry of the golden calf in the wilderness, and the setting up of the idolatrous sanctuaries in olden times at Ophrah and at Dan (Jdg_8:27; Jdg_18:30-31). The guilt, indeed, of Jeroboam’s act was enhanced by the presumptuous contempt of the special promise of God, given on the sole condition of obedience. In respect of this, perhaps, he is said below—in an expression seldom used elsewhere—to have “cast God Himself behind his back.” But probably the reference is mainly to the unprecedented effect of the sin, coming at a critical point in the history of Israel, and from that time onward poisoning the springs of national faith and worship. Other idolatries came and passed away: this continued, and at all times “made Israel to sin.”
Other gods and molten images.—See in 1Ki_11:28 the repetition of the older declaration in the wilderness, “These be thy gods, O Israel.” Jeroboam would have justified the use of the calves as simply emblems of the true God; Ahijah rejects the plea, holding these molten images, expressly forbidden in the Law, to be really objects of worship—“other gods,”—as, indeed, all experience shows that such forbidden emblems eventually tend to become. Moreover, from 1Ki_14:15 it appears that the foul worship of the Asherah (“groves”) associated itself with the idolatry of Jeroboam.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain But hast done evil above all that were before…
But hast done evil above all that were before thee perhaps preceding kings are not meant, so much as judgesjudices et duces Israelis (Le Clerc). Kings, however, are not excluded. Both Saul and Solomon had sinned (1 Samuel passim; 1Ki_11:5, 1Ki_11:6) though neither had set up an organized idolism and "made Israel to sin": for thou hast gone and made thee other gods in defiance of the decalogue. (Exo_20:4) Jeroboam, no doubt, insisted that his calves were not idols, but cherubic symbols. But God does not recognize this distinction. Practically they were "other gods," and so they are here called derisively, and molten images the word is used of the golden calf, Exo_32:4, Exo_32:8. See also Exo_34:17; Deu_9:12; Jud_1:17:3, 4. The "other gods" and the "molten images" are but two names for the same thing, viz., the calves of Bethel and Dan to provoke me to anger This was the result, not, of course, the object of Jeroboam"s idolatrous worship, and hast cast me The order of the Hebrew stamps the "me" as emphatic, and ME hast thou cast, etc. behind thy back This strong expression only occurs here and in Eze_23:35. It forcibly expresses Jeroboam"s, contemptuous disregard of God"s revealed will. In Psalm: Neh_9:26, we have somewhat similar phrases
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 thrust me behind your back
thrust me behind your back
Jeroboam has disrespected Yahweh like a person throws away something that is not wanted. AT: "completely rejected me" (See: Metaphor)
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look
"pay attention." This word is added to indicate that what follows is important.
I will cut off ... and will completely remove
These two phrases are very similar in meaning and are repeated for emphasis. (See: Parallelism)
cut off from you every male child in Israel
Yahweh speaks of destroying Jeroboam's family and preventing him from having any descendants as if he were cutting them off as one would cut a branch from a tree. AT: "destroy every one of your male children in Israel" (See: Metaphor)
will completely remove your family, like someone who burns up dung until it is gone
This simile compares the removal of every descendant of Jeroboam with the complete burning up of dung that was mixed with straw, dried, and burned for fuel. (See: Simile)
translationWords
evil
false god
image
anger
cut off
kingdom of Israel
free
dung
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.