Bible Strands
2 Kings 13:6
Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, but they continued to walk in them. The Asherah pole even remained standing in Samaria.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative records Israel’s condition immediately after God provided a deliverer from Aram. It states that the people refused to abandon the idolatrous practices introduced by Jeroboam, and that the Asherah pole in Samaria was left untouched.
The words — אַךְ ('akh) = nevertheless; סָרוּ (sa.ru) = they turned aside; הֶחֱטִיא (he.che.ti') = he caused to sin. These terms establish a sharp contrast between the deliverance just granted and the population's deliberate refusal to stop following the sins Jeroboam's house initiated.
The thread — The persistent "sins of Jeroboam" and the standing Asherah pole in Samaria directly echo the idolatrous foundations laid in 1 Kings 16:33. This ongoing tolerance of pagan worship stands in direct opposition to the Deuteronomy 7:5 command to tear down altars and cut down Asherah poles.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that political or military deliverance does not automatically produce spiritual reform. It requires the reader to see that tolerated idolatry persists until it is actively dismantled, regardless of external circumstances.
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
Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.)
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 16:33 Then he set up an Asherah pole. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.
- 2 Kings 13:2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.
- Deuteronomy 7:5 Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- 1 Kings 15:3 And Abijam walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed, and his heart was not as fully devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his forefather had been.
- 1 Kings 16:26 For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sins, which he caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols.
- 2 Kings 10:29 but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
- 2 Kings 17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal.
- 2 Kings 17:20 So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had banished them from His presence.
- 2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.