What Does 2 Kings 23:5 Mean in the King James?
And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
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
The verb for “put down” shares its root with Sabbath: both name cessation, but here the cessation is imposed on a cult.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes a live pattern: devotion can be built into public life through appointed officials, repeated incense rites, and sites spread across a region. Baal and the celestial lights are named as recipients of worship, not as background scenery. Its present force is that an authorized ritual system can be brought to a halt.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If worship has official backing and reaches across a whole region, it must be sacred and permanent.
THE ROOT
וְהִשְׁבִּית
vehishbit
GROWS FROM
שבת
To cease, desist, or rest; in this causative form, to make cease.
The verb rendered “put down” means making the priests’ function cease. The same seed underlies Sabbath and Sabbath-rest words, so English hides a shared idea of cessation: here it ends a cultic practice.
ALSO GROWS
shabbat: Sabbath; a day of rest or cessation.
שַׁבָּת
It shares the root’s idea of ceasing, which gives “put down” a deeper connection to stopping a practice.
shabbaton: Sabbath rest; a time of complete rest.
שַׁבָּתוֹן
This branch also carries cessation, while the verse applies that idea to the end of an appointed cult.
נָתְנוּ
natenu
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
The word rendered “ordained” comes from the verb for giving or placing: the kings set these priests in place. The verse exposes public worship as an organized human appointment that can also be withdrawn.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb behind the appointment: authority gives the priests their place in the ritual system.
mattanah: A gift; something given.
מַתָּנָה
This noun shares the give-root and echoes the act of assigning or placing something within a system.
צְבָא הַשָּׁמָיִם
tseva hashamayim
GROWS FROM
צָבָא
Host or army; as a verb, to muster or serve.
“host of heaven” in this verse is tseva hashamayim. English “host” can sound like a mere crowd, but the Hebrew carries the sense of an army or ordered company. The verse names the celestial objects as a collective array even as it describes people directing worship toward them.
ALSO GROWS
tsava: A host or army; an organized company.
צָבָא
It frames the heavenly lights as an array rather than as isolated powers.
tsevaot: Hosts or armies.
צְבָאוֹת
This plural form carries the same image of an ordered host, clarifying the collective language used for the heavens.
THE PATTERN
When people give created lights the allegiance due to God, scripture names that shift and exposes its consequences.
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.And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.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 on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.The Hebrew verb behind “put down” shares its root with the verb rendered “rested” here. The same root names cessation in both verses: in this passage it ends an appointed cult, while in Genesis it marks completion and rest.
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