Bible Strands
1 Kings 21:26
He committed the most detestable acts by going after idols, just like the Amorites whom the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.)
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator concludes his assessment of Ahab’s reign by placing the king’s idolatry in historical comparison, positioned immediately after noting Ahab’s sale of himself to evil and before recording his penitent reaction.
The words — וַ/יַּתְעֵ֣ב (va/yat'ev) = and he acted abominably, paired with מְאֹד (me'od) = exceedingly.
The thread — The Amorite comparison reappears in 2 Kings 21:11 regarding Manasseh, while Genesis 15:16 and Leviticus 18:25 ground the motif in the Amorites’ accumulated iniquity and the land’s defilement as grounds for expulsion.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that Ahab’s pursuit of idols replicates the pre-Israelite nations God previously drove out, framing his actions as a direct catalyst for future land expulsion rather than isolated royal misconduct.
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
And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 21:11 “Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin,
- Genesis 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
- Leviticus 18:25 Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
- Leviticus 20:22 You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
- Deuteronomy 12:31 You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
- 1 Kings 15:12 He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- 2 Kings 16:3 Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- 2 Kings 17:12 They served idols, although the LORD had told them, “You shall not do this thing.”
- 2 Kings 21:2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- 2 Chronicles 15:8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple.