What Does 2 Kings 17:11 Mean?
And there they made smoke rise on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD stripped bare before them, and they did evil things to provoke the LORD to anger.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:THE KEY
A rising offering does not turn destructive practice into devotion: this verse sets incense beside wicked acts and the anger they provoke.
THE MEANING
The verse names a live contradiction: incense rises at the high places, while the people echo the pattern of those the LORD has carried away and do what provokes him to anger. It holds ritual and harmful conduct in the same frame, without softening either.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Religious ritual does not make harmful conduct harmless or aligned with God.
THE ROOT
וַיַּקְטִרוּ
wayyaqṭîrû
GROWS FROM
קטר
To send up smoke, especially by burning an offering.
“made smoke rise” in this verse is wayyaqṭîrû. The root names both the act of burning incense and the smoke that rises from it. Here that visible ritual stands beside deeds that provoke the LORD’s anger, showing that the rising smoke alone does not describe the whole life.
ALSO GROWS
qetoret: Incense
קְטֹרֶת
The noun for incense shares the root of the verb here, joining the ritual substance to the act of sending it up.
qitor: Smoke
קִיטֹר
This branch names the smoke itself, the visible trace of what the incense-burning produces.
לְהַכְעִיס
lehak'is
GROWS FROM
כעס
To be vexed or angry; in the causative form, to provoke anger.
“to provoke to anger” in this verse is lehak'is. The form here is causative: the deeds actively provoke the anger named in the clause. The root keeps the act and the anger in one word-family, presenting the offense as a rupture in relationship rather than a vague reaction.
ALSO GROWS
ka'as: Anger, vexation
כַּעַס
This noun names the anger that the verb in the verse causes.
hik'is: He caused anger; he provoked
הִכְעִיס
This causative form makes explicit the action carried by the verse’s infinitive.
THE PATTERN
Outward reverence does not erase the contradiction of actions that provoke God.
They vexed him with their heights, and stirred him to jealousy with their carved images.Stop bringing empty gifts. The smoke is sickening to me. The new moons and the sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I cannot bear. It is emptiness, even the restrained assembly.And he answered and said to them, Finely Isaiah prophesied about you, hypocrites, as it is written, This people gives me weight with their lips, but their heart holds itself far from me.THE THREAD
They have set me burning with what is not God, and provoked me with their vapors. And I will set them burning with what is not a people; I will provoke them with a withered nation.The verb translated “provoked me to anger” in both passages comes from כעס, binding the act and the anger in the same word-family. This echo shows the anger as part of the rupture caused by turning toward what opposes God.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us