What Does 2 Kings 21:5 Mean in the King James?
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Altars for the entire heavenly host stand inside the LORD’s own courts, making rival devotion part of the house’s very layout.
THE MEANING
The verse confronts you with a collision of worship: altars are built for the host of heaven in the LORD’s own courts. Their placement makes visible how devotion can be built into a sacred space and directed toward rival powers.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A place does not become faithful merely because it is inside the LORD’s house; these altars stand in his courts while serving the heavenly host.
THE ROOT
צָבָא
tsava
GROWS FROM
צבא
An organized host or army; the same word can also refer to service or duty.
The Hebrew word צָבָא (tsava, host or army) presents the heavens as an ordered company, not an undefined power. Altars are built for that whole company within the LORD’s courts, so the placement itself shows where worship is being directed.
ALSO GROWS
tsava: An organized company or army.
צָבָא
This is the word rendered “host” in the verse; it makes the altars’ recipients a gathered company of heavenly powers.
tsava: Service or assigned duty.
צָבָא
The same word family connects the host with organized service, sharpening the contrast between the LORD’s courts and the powers receiving altars there.
מִזְבְּחוֹת
mizbeḥot
GROWS FROM
זבח
To slaughter or sacrifice.
“altars” in this verse is mizbeḥot. The word for altar grows from זָבַח (zavaḥ, to sacrifice or slaughter). An altar is therefore not simply a marker or decoration: the verse describes built places for offerings to the heavenly host.
ALSO GROWS
zavaḥ: To slaughter an animal or make a sacrifice.
זָבַח
This verb reveals the sacrificial action that the altars make possible.
zevaḥ: A sacrifice, sometimes associated with a shared meal.
זֶבַח
This noun shows that the altar’s role reaches beyond its structure to the offering made there.
THE PATTERN
When created powers receive worship, devotion is redirected from the Creator to what is made.
And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.THE THREAD
And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.Both verses use צָבָא (tsava, host) for the ordered powers of heaven. Deuteronomy names the turn toward worship and service; here, altars make that turn visible within the LORD’s own courts.
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