He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
Parallel Translations
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He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
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And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
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And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there, upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 23:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Kings 11:18 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.
- Exodus 22:20 “He who sacrifices to any god, except to Yahweh only, shall be utterly destroyed.
- 2 Kings 10:25 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, “Go in and kill them! Let no one escape.” So they struck them with the edge of the sword. The guard and the captains threw the bodies out, and went to the inner shrine of the house of Baal.
- 2 Chronicles 34:5 He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
- 1 Kings 13:2 He cried against the altar by Yahweh’s word, and said, “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to David’s house, Josiah by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’ ”
- 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.
- 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.
- Isaiah 34:6 Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
- 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 (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 23:20 And he slew all the priests of…
2Ki 23:20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that [were] there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
Ver. 20. And burnt men’s bones.] Hence Papists would prove the lawfulness of unburying dead heretics, as they call us, and burning their bones; as they dealt here by Grosthead, bishop of Lincoln, Paulus Phagius, Bucer’s wife, &c. But Josiah’s act is justified by the prophecy, whereby he was appointed so to do; and the Lord would have it so done, to show the abomination wherein he had idolaters, and for a demonstration of their damnation in hell.
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 The priests of the high places; either,
The priests of the high places; either,
1. The priests which Jeroboam had made of the meanest of the people, whom he slew, both for their presumptuous usurpation of that sacred office, which of itself was punishable with death by God’s law, Num 3:10, and for their idolatry. Or rather,
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2. The priests of Baalim; by comparing this verse with the former, where speaking of the same high places, he doth not say, which Jeroboam made, as is usual when he speaks of the high places of the calves; but, which the other kings of Israel made, who were divers of them worshippers of Baal; and by considering the parallel place, 2Ch 34:4, where it is said, they brake down the altars of Baalim, &c. By this relation it appears, and from the nature of the thing, and common practice in like cases, it is more than probable, that after the departure of the king of Assyria, divers of the Israelites who had retired to other parts, and kept themselves out of the conqueror’s hands, returned together with their priests to their own land, and to their old trade of worshipping idols; to whom, peradventure, they ascribed this their deliverance from that judgment which Jehovah had brought upon them.
That were there upon the altars; according to that famous prophecy, 1Ki 13:1,2.
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 the king commanded all the people,.... Not at…
And the king commanded all the people,.... Not at Jerusalem only, but throughout the whole kingdom: saying:
keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant; which had been lately found and read, and they had agreed to observe, and in which this ordinance was strictly enjoined, and was a commemoration of their deliverance out of Egypt, and a direction of their faith to the Messiah, the antitype of the passover.
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 The priests - By this relation it appears, that…
The priests - By this relation it appears, that after the departure of the king of Assyria, divers of the Israelites who had retired to other parts, and kept themselves out of the conqueror's hands, returned together with their priests to their own land, and to their old trade, worshipping idols; to whom, peradventure, they ascribed this their deliverance from that judgment which Jehovah had brought upon them. And burnt - According to that famous prophecy, 1 Kings xiii, 1, 2.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 20. Slew all the priests] The lives of…
Verse 20. Slew all the priests] The lives of these, as corrupters of the people, were forfeited to the law.
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 23:20. He slew all the priests of the…
2Ki 23:20. He slew all the priests of the high places — By this relation it appears, that after the departure of the king of Assyria, divers of the Israelites, who had retired to other parts, and kept themselves out of the conqueror’s hands, returned together with their priests to their own land, and to their old trade, worshipping idols; to whom, peradventure, they ascribed this their deliverance from that judgment which Jehovah had brought upon them. And burned men’s bones upon them — According to that famous prophecy, 1Ki 13:1-2.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Slew. Most of the Israelites who had been left,…
CHAPTER XXIII.
Slew. Most of the Israelites who had been left, (Haydock) embraced the true religion, after the captivity of their brethren, (Calmet) and adhered to the kings of Juda, (ver. 15.; Haydock) who had taken possession of the whole country (Du Hamel) after the fall of the Assyrian empire; (Tirinus) unless the emperors of Chaldea had given it to them as to their vassels. See ver. 29. (Calmet)
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 20. Slew all the priests — Literally, sacrificed them;…
20. Slew all the priests — Literally, sacrificed them; and he did it upon the altars which these very priests had used for idolatrous purposes.
High places that were there — High places that were in the several cities of Samaria.
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 20. and burnt men’s bones upon them] To the…
20. and burnt men’s bones upon them] To the heathen, as well as to the Jew, this would be a pollution that would make the place for ever unfit for worship.
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 (20) He slew.—He slaughtered. A contrast to his mild…
(20) He slew.—He slaughtered. A contrast to his mild treatment of the priests of the Judæan high places (2Ki_23:8-9). They were Levites, and these heathenish priests. (Comp. Deu_17:2-5.) Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of 1Ki_13:2. (Thenius considers the event historical, because that prophecy “is undoubtedly modelled upon it.”)
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 he slew all the priests of the high…
And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars. It is not directly said that he had done this at Bethel, though it had been prophesied that he would do so. (1Ki_13:2) Possibly there were no priests at Bethel at the time, since the "calf" set up by Jeroboam had been carried off (Hos_10:6) by the Assyrians. The difference between the treatment of the high-place priests in Israel and in Judah (ver. 9) clearly implies that the former were attached to the worship of false gods, while the latter were priests of Jehovah who worshipped him with superstitious and unauthorized rites and ceremonies. And burned men"s bones upon them (comp. ver. 16), and returned to Jerusalem.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.