2 Kings 17:12

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They served idols, although the Lord had told them, “You must not do this.”

Hebrew Names Version
and they served idols, whereof the LORD had said to them, You shall not do this thing.

King James Version
For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

English Standard Version
and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, "You shall not do this."

New Century Version
They served idols when the Lord had said, "You must not do this."

New English Translation
They worshiped the disgusting idols in blatant disregard of the Lord 's command.

Amplified Bible
And they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

New American Standard Bible
They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

World English Bible
and they served idols, whereof Yahweh had said to them, You shall not do this thing.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And serued idoles: whereof the Lorde had sayd vnto them, Ye shal do no such thing,

Legacy Standard Bible
And they served idols, concerning which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

Berean Standard Bible
They served idols, although the LORD had told them, "You shall not do this thing."

Contemporary English Version
Even though the Lord had commanded the Israelites not to worship idols, they did it anyway.

Complete Jewish Bible
moreover, they served idols, something Adonai had expressly told them not to do.

Darby Translation
and they served idols, as to which Jehovah had said to them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Easy-to-Read Version
They served idols, and the Lord had said to them, "You must not do this."

George Lamsa Translation
For they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, You shall not do this thing.

Good News Translation
and disobeyed the Lord 's command not to worship idols.

Lexham English Bible
They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this thing!"

Literal Translation
and served the idols, of which Jehovah had said to them, You shall not do this thing.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
& serued the Idols, wherof the LORDE sayde vnto them: Ye shal not do soch a thynge.

American Standard Version
and they served idols, whereof Jehovah had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Bible in Basic English
And they made themselves servants of disgusting things, though the Lord had said, You are not to do this.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For they serued most vile idols, wherof the Lorde had sayd vnto them: Ye shall do no such thing.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
and they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them: 'Ye shall not do this thing';

King James Version (1611)
For they serued idoles, whereof the Lord had said vnto them, Yee shall not doe this thing.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they served the idols, of which the Lord said to them, Ye shall not do this thing against the Lord.

English Revised Version
and they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and worschipiden vnclenesses, of whiche the Lord comaundide to hem, that thei schulden not do this word.

Young's Literal Translation
and serve the idols, of which Jehovah said to them, `Ye do not do this thing;'

Update Bible Version
and they served idols, whereof Yahweh had said to them, You shall not do this thing.

Webster's Bible Translation
For they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, Ye shall not do this thing.

New King James Version
for they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

New Living Translation
Yes, they worshiped idols, despite the Lord 's specific and repeated warnings.

New Life Bible
They worshiped false gods, about which the Lord had told them, "You must not do this."

New Revised Standard
they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, "You shall not do this."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and they served the manufactured gods, as to which Yahweh had said to them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they worshipped abominations, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do this thing.

Revised Standard Version
and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

Contextual Overview

⁷The exile came about because of sin: The children of Israel sinned against God , their God, who had delivered them from Egypt and the brutal oppression of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They took up with other gods, fell in with the ways of life of the pagan nations God had chased off, and went along with whatever their kings did. They did all kinds of things on the sly, things offensive to their God , then openly and shamelessly built local sex-and-religion shrines at every available site. They set up their sex-and-religion symbols at practically every crossroads. Everywhere you looked there was smoke from their pagan offerings to the deities—the identical offerings that had gotten the pagan nations off into exile. They had accumulated a long list of evil actions and God was fed up, fed up with their persistent worship of gods carved out of deadwood or shaped out of clay, even though God had plainly said, "Don't do this—ever!" ¹³ God had taken a stand against Israel and Judah, speaking clearly through countless holy prophets and seers time and time again, "Turn away from your evil way of life. Do what I tell you and have been telling you in The Revelation I gave your ancestors and of which I've kept reminding you ever since through my servants the prophets." ¹⁴But they wouldn't listen. If anything, they were even more bullheaded than their stubborn ancestors, if that's possible. They were contemptuous of his instructions, the solemn and holy covenant he had made with their ancestors, and of his repeated reminders and warnings. They lived a "nothing" life and became "nothings"—just like the pagan peoples all around them. They were well-warned: God said, "Don't!" but they did it anyway. ¹⁶They threw out everything God , their God, had told them, and replaced him with two statue-gods shaped like bull-calves and then a phallic pole for the whore goddess Asherah. They worshiped cosmic forces—sky gods and goddesses—and frequented the sex-and-religion shrines of Baal. They even sank so low as to offer their own sons and daughters as sacrificial burnt offerings! They indulged in all the black arts of magic and sorcery. In short, they prostituted themselves to every kind of evil available to them. And God had had enough. ¹⁸ God was so thoroughly angry that he got rid of them, got them out of the country for good until only one tribe was left—Judah. (Judah, actually, wasn't much better, for Judah also failed to keep God 's commands, falling into the same way of life that Israel had adopted.) God rejected everyone connected with Israel, made life hard for them, and permitted anyone with a mind to exploit them to do so. And then this final No as he threw them out of his sight. ²¹Back at the time that God ripped Israel out of their place in the family of David, they had made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam debauched Israel—turned them away from serving God and led them into a life of total sin. The children of Israel went along with all the sins that Jeroboam did, never murmured so much as a word of protest. In the end, God spoke a final No to Israel and turned his back on them. He had given them fair warning, and plenty of time, through the preaching of all his servants the prophets. Then he exiled Israel from her land to Assyria. And that's where they are now.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

whereof: Exodus 20:3-5, Exodus 34:14, Leviticus 26:1, Deuteronomy 4:19, Deuteronomy 5:7-9

Ye shall not: Deuteronomy 4:15-19, Deuteronomy 4:23-25, Deuteronomy 12:4

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 17:15 - concerning whom 2 Kings 17:40 - but they did

Cross-References

Genesis 17:22
God finished speaking with Abraham and left.

Genesis 17:23
Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his servants, whether houseborn or purchased—every male in his household—and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins that very day, just as God had told him.

Luke 1:59
On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But his mother intervened: "No. He is to be called John."

Luke 2:21
When the eighth day arrived, the day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.

Acts 7:8
"Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham's flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve ‘fathers,' each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For they served idols,.... Baalim, as the Targum; dunghill gods, as the word signifies, as they are often called in Scripture; and Sterculius was one of the names of Saturn, an Heathen deity, which he had, as is supposed, by his finding out the method of making land fruitful with dung i:

whereof the Lord said unto them, ye shall not do this thing; see

Exodus 20:3.

i Vid. Macrob. l. 1. c. 7. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 20.