Bible Strands
2 Kings 23:7
He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Josiah acts as king of Judah during his temple purification campaign, specifically addressing idolatrous installations inside the Jerusalem sanctuary. This action immediately follows the removal of the Asherah pole and precedes the desecration of provincial high places.
The words — וַיִּתּוֹץ (vayyitōṣ) translates literally as "he broke down" or "tore down," and הַקְּדֵשִׁים (haqqĕdēšîm) refers to the "male shrine prostitutes" or "male cult prostitutes."
The thread — The dismantling of these quarters aligns with earlier royal decrees that banished male shrine prostitutes (1 Kings 15:12) and contrasts with the widespread idolatrous presence that characterized the land under Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:24). It also echoes prophetic condemnation of temple defilement through foreign cultic practices (Ezekiel 16:16).
Why it lands — The text states that Josiah physically destroyed the quarters where male shrine prostitutes operated and where women wove tapestries for Asherah inside the house of Yahweh. It requires acknowledging that the sanctuary had been compromised by syncretistic worship and that covenant fidelity demands the removal of foreign cultic infrastructure from sacred spaces.
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 brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 15:12 He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- Ezekiel 16:16 You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!
- 1 Kings 14:24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- Exodus 35:25 Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun: blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen.
- Genesis 19:4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.
- 1 Kings 22:46 He banished from the land the male shrine prostitutes who remained from the days of his father Asa.
- 2 Chronicles 34:33 And Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the Israelites, and he required everyone in Israel to serve the LORD their God. Throughout his reign they did not turn aside from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
- Ezekiel 8:14 Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz.
- Hosea 2:13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.
- Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.