Bible Strands
1 Kings 14:15
For the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that He gave their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers this declaration to Jeroboam’s wife during her visit to inquire about her sick son.
The words — The Hebrew יָנ֣וּד (ya.Nud) means "it sways" or "shakes," paired with הַ/קָּנֶה (ha./ka.Neh) "the reed" to describe Israel’s instability.
The thread — This imagery of shaking and scattering beyond the Euphrates echoes the warning in Joshua 23:15 and anticipates the Assyrian captivity recorded in 2 Kings 15:29.
Why it lands — The text states God will uproot Israel from the land He gave their fathers and scatter them for making Asherah poles.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger.
Cross-references
- Joshua 23:15 But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.
- Psalms 52:5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
- 2 Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
- Exodus 34:13 Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.
- Deuteronomy 12:3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.
- Proverbs 2:22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
- Leviticus 26:32 And I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who dwell in it will be appalled.
- Leviticus 26:43 For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.
- Deuteronomy 4:26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
- Deuteronomy 28:36 The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.