All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down. They broke his altars and his images in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over Yahweh’s house.
Parallel Translations
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All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down. They broke his altars and his images in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over Yahweh’s house.
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And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.
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And all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down; his altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 11:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 12:3 You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place.
- 1 Kings 18:40 Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there.
- 2 Kings 10:26 They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them.
- 2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
- Deuteronomy 13:5 That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
- Exodus 32:20 He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.
- Deuteronomy 13:9 but you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.
- 2 Kings 9:25-28 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh laid this burden on him: ‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,’ says Yahweh; ‘and I will repay you in this plot of ground,’ says Yahweh. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to Yahweh’s word.” But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, “Strike him also in the chariot!” They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there. His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in David’s city.
- 2 Kings 23:4-6 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of Yahweh’s temple all the vessels that were made for Baal, for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. He got rid of the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the army of the sky. He brought out the Asherah from Yahweh’s house, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people.
- 2 Kings 23:10 He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
- 2 Kings 23:14 He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.
- 2 Chronicles 21:17 and they came up against Judah, broke into it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, including his sons and his wives; so that there was no son left him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
- 2 Chronicles 23:17-20 All the people went to the house of Baal, broke it down, broke his altars and his images in pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. Jehoiada appointed the officers of Yahweh’s house under the hand of the Levitical priests, whom David had distributed in Yahweh’s house, to offer the burnt offerings of Yahweh, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as David had ordered. He set the gatekeepers at the gates of Yahweh’s house, that no one who was unclean in anything should enter in. He took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from Yahweh’s house. They came through the upper gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom.
- 2 Chronicles 34:4 They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and he cut down the incense altars that were on high above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images in pieces, made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
- 2 Chronicles 34:7 He broke down the altars, and beat the Asherah poles and the engraved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, then returned to Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 2:18 The idols shall utterly pass away.
- Zechariah 13:2-3 It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land. It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die, because you speak lies in Yahweh’s name;’ and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Even in the place where he had blasphemed God,…
Even in the place where he had blasphemed God, and thought to have been helped by his idol, there God poured his vengeance upon him.
To wit, Jehoiada.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 11:18 And all the people of the land…
2Ki 11:18 And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.
Ver. 18. And brake it down.] As Israel had done before them.
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And the priest.] Jehoiada. See on 2Ki 11:9.
Over the house of the Lord.] Which the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah, perhaps her bastards, had broken up, and bestowed all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord upon Balaam. {2Ch 24:7} So that there was but need of officers, or offices, to set things in order again.
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 Before the altar; to which possibly he fled for…
Before the altar; to which possibly he fled for refuge; or rather, he was brought thither as a fit sacrifice to his God.
Officers over the house of the Lord; of which see more particularly, 2Ch 23:18,19.
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 And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the…
And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard,.... Of which Kg2 11:4 and all the people of the land; as many as were assembled together on this occasion:
and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord; the temple, which was built on an eminence:
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and came by the way of the gate to the king's house; the gate of the royal palace, where the king's guards were placed, and did their duty: and he sat on the throne of the kings: where the kings of Judah used to sit, and this finished the formality of his being made king.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. His altars and images brake they in…
Verse 18. His altars and images brake they in pieces] It is probable that Athaliah had set up the worship of Baal in Judah, as Jezebel had done in Israel; or probably it had never been removed since the days of Solomon. It was no wonder that Jehoiada began his reform with this act, when we learn from 2Ch 24:7, that the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ki 11:18. All the people went into the house…
2Ki 11:18. All the people went into the house of Baal — They began immediately to make good their covenant in part, by destroying the worship of Baal, which had been introduced in Judah by Jehoram, (2Ki 8:18,) and was continued by Ahaziah, 2Ki 8:27. And slew the priest of Baal before the altars — To which possibly he fled for refuge, or rather he was brought thither as a fit sacrifice to his god. The priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord — To see that the service was regularly performed by the proper persons, in due time, and according to the instituted manner. See the margin.
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 A temple had been built to Baal at Jerusalem…
A temple had been built to Baal at Jerusalem itself by Athaliah, Ahaziah, or Jehoram. According to Josephus, it was constructed in the reign of Jehoram. Its exact position is uncertain.
Images - The word used here is not the same as in 2Ki 10:26, but a word which implies likeness. The Phoenicians had fashioned images, besides their unfashioned pillar-idols.
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The priest appointed ... - The temple worship having been discontinued during Athaliah’s rule, it devolved on Jehoiada now to re-establish it (see marginal reference). He had already summoned the Levites out of all the cities of Judah 2Ch 23:2, and had made use of them in the events of the day. He therefore proceeded at once to assign the custody of the temple to a particular course, before conducting the young king to the palace.
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 Altar. Many of the sacred ornaments belonging to the…
Altar. Many of the sacred ornaments belonging to the temple had been transported to the house of Baal, probably on Mount Olivet, where Solomon had formerly erected such buildings, 3 Kings xi. 5., and 2 Paralipomenon xxiv. 7. The reform of the state justly, therefore, began with the destruction of this profane and sacrilegious place. --- Lord, according to the former regulations, which had been lately ill observed, to prevent any thing unclean from coming in, 2 Paralipomenon xxiii. 19. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "the priest placed overseers (Greek: episkopons) in the house of the Lord. (Haydock)
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 18. Went into the house of Baal — So…
18. Went into the house of Baal — So firmly had the worship of Baal fastened itself upon the whole Israelitish nation that Jerusalem, as well as Samaria, had its temple to this god. Jehu destroyed the Baal worship in Samaria, (compare 2Ki_10:18-28;) Jehoiada and his adherents that in Jerusalem.
Appointed officers over the house of the Lord — Reorganized the temple service, which had been partially interrupted and disturbed by the revolution effected in the kingdom.
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 18. went into [R.V. to] the house of Baal]…
18. went into [R.V. to] the house of Baal] Athaliah had set up Baal worship in Judah after the fashion of the northern kingdom. We are told also in 2Ch_24:7 that the sons of Athaliah had broken up (i.e. broken into) the house of God, and bestowed the dedicated things of the house of the Lord upon the Baalim. It is clear from this that the house of Baal was not any portion of the temple which had been appropriated to the idolatrous worship, but a separate building, into which spoils from the temple had been conveyed. It may have been on the same hill with the temple, though of that we cannot be certain. There can however be no doubt that the Baal worship had not extended largely in Judah. Hence the readiness of the people of the land, called to Jerusalem by some festival, to go to the Baalite edifice and destroy it.
brake they in pieces throughly] That there should be no chance of a restoration. The multitude were no doubt helped in their destruction by the military force with which, in these doings, they had been in such close combination.
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Mattan the priest of Baal] We read of no other priest of Baal in Judah, and so we may conclude that though the court favoured idolatry, it found no great favour with the rest of the kingdom. Otherwise we should have heard of an array of priests like that of Jezebel in Samaria.
And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord] From this necessity we may gather that the regular ministrations in the temple had been interfered with by the introduction of the Baalim. The Chronicler gives fuller details on this matter, and the two accounts have so much verbal similarity in other parts that we cannot avoid the conclusion that both writers used a common source of information. He says (2Ch_23:18-19) ‘Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the Lord by the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David. And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in’.
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 (18) All the people of the land went into…
(18) All the people of the land went into the house of Baal.—Immediately after the covenant had been renewed, of which the extirpation of the foreign Baal-worship was a consequence. In the fervour of their newly-awakened enthusiasm for Jehovah, the assembly may have hurried off at once to the work of demolition. It seems to be implied that the “house of Baal” stood on the Temple mount, in ostentatious rivalry with the sanctuary of Jehovah. (Comp, the introduction of idolatrous altars into the Temple itself by Manasseh, 2Ki_21:4-5; 2Ki_21:7; 2Ki_23:12.) This house of Baal had, perhaps, been built by Athaliah. (Comp. 1Ki_16:31-32.)
His altars . . . his images.—Or, its (the Temple’s) altars . . . its images.
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And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord.—The obviously close connection of this statement with what precedes, almost proves that the sanctuary of Baal had stood within the Temple precincts, probably in the outer court. After the destruction of it, Jehoiada appointed certain overseers—probably Levites of rank—to prevent any future desecration of the Temple by the practice of idolatrous rites (comp. Eze_8:5-16), or by wanton attacks of the Baal-worshippers, who might be cowed, but were certainly not exterminated (comp. 2Ch_24:7); and to see that the legitimate cultus was properly carried out. (The sentence tells us what was done some time afterwards, in consequence of the reformation; thus finishing the subject in hand at the expense of the strict order of time.)
Mattan.—Mattan is short for Mattanbaal, “gift of Baal,” a Phœnician name occurring in Punic and Assyrian inscriptions (the Muthumballes of Plautus). Comp. also Mitinna and Mattén, as names of Tyrian kings (Inscr. of Tig. Pil. ii.; Herod. Vii. 98).
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 And all the people of the landi.e. all those…
And all the people of the landi.e. all those who had come up to Jerusalem from the various cities of Judah to help Jehoiada (see 2Ch_23:2) went into the house of Baal. According to Josephus, "the house of Baal" hero mentioned was built by Jehoram and Athaliah in the reign of the former ("Ant. Jud:," 9:7. But, if this was the case, it is rather strange that the writer of Chronicles, who enumerates so many of the evil acts of Jehoram, (2Ch_21:4, 2Ch_21:6, 2Ch_21:11) does not mention it. The present narrative shows that the temple was in, or very near, Jerusalem; but there is nothing to fix the site of it. And brake it down Josephus says they "razed it to the ground" (kateskayan)his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly. It was common among the heathen to have several altars in one temple, and not uncommon to have several images even of the same god, especially if he was a god worshipped under different forms, as Baal was (whence the word "Baalim"). The Baalim of this temple are mentioned by the writer of Chronicles. (see 2Ch_24:7) And slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The name "Mattan" recalls that of the last King of Judah, which was originally Mattaniah, equivalent to "gift of Jehovah". (2Ki_24:17) Mattan would be simply "gift." We may presume that, though only called "priest," he was the high priest. And the priesti.e. Jehoiadaappointed officers over the house of the Lord. The parallel passage of Chronicles (2Ch_23:18, 2Ch_23:19) explains this statement. We are there told that "Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the Lord by the hand of the priests the Levites... to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David. And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in anything should enter in." During Athaliah"s reign the temple service had ceased; breaches had been broken in the outer walls; and neither the priests nor the porters had served in their regular order; there had been no morning or evening sacrifice, and no antiphonal psalm-singing. Jehoiada re-established the regular courses and the worship.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 11:18 The temple of Baal may be the temple…
11:18 The temple of Baal may be the temple discovered in Ramat Rahel about three miles south of Jerusalem. As Jehu destroyed Baal worship in the northern kingdom (10:18-27) so the people of Judah tore . . . down this pagan temple and executed its priest. • Jehoiada . . . stationed guards at the Temple as a precaution against further reprisal by those loyal to Athaliah and her false religion.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.