Bible Strands
2 Kings 17:32
So the new residents worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed for themselves priests of all sorts to serve in the shrines of the high places.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the religious behavior of the foreign populations resettled in Samaria by the Assyrian empire. This account falls within the historical summary of Israel’s exile and the immediate aftermath of the land’s depopulation.
The words — The Hebrew יְרֵאִים (yir'aim) literally means "fearing," denoting the new residents' reverential posture toward Yahweh. The phrase מִקְצוֹתָם (miqtsotam) translates to "from among themselves," highlighting the self-appointed origin of their priesthood.
The thread — This unauthorized priesthood directly echoes Jeroboam’s appointment of non-Levites for the high places at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:33). The syncretistic blend of Yahweh worship with foreign deities extends the mixed devotion pattern noted in 2 Kings 17:29.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to distinguish between external ritual observance and covenantal obedience. It forces the recognition that self-directed religious innovation inevitably corrupts divine instruction into syncretism.
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
So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 12:31 Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.
- 2 Kings 17:29 Nevertheless, the people of each nation continued to make their own gods in the cities where they had settled, and they set them up in the shrines that the people of Samaria had made on the high places.
- 1 Kings 13:33 Even after these events, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil ways, but again he appointed priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained anyone who desired to be a priest of the high places.
- 2 Kings 23:19 Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the LORD to anger.
- Zephaniah 1:5 those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,
- 1 Kings 13:31 After he had buried him, the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, you must bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones,