2 Kings 17:11

17:11 They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the Lord had driven away from before them. Their evil practices made the Lord angry. ¹ 

2 Kings 17:32

17:32 At the same time they worshiped ²  the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. ³ 

2 Kings 17:9

17:9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. ⁴  They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress. ⁵ 

2 Kings 23:8

23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined ⁶  the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. ⁷  He tore down the high place of the goat idols ⁸  situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.

[17:11]  ¹ tn Heb “and they did evil things, angering the Lord.”

[17:32]  ² tn Heb “feared.”

[17:32]  ³ tn Heb “and they appointed for themselves from their whole people priests for the high places and they were serving for them in the house[s] of the high places.”

[17:9]  ³ tn The meaning of the verb וַיְחַפְּאוּ (vayÿkhappÿ’u), translated here “said,” is uncertain. Some relate it to the verbal root חָפַה (khafah), “to cover,” and translate “they did it in secret” (see BDB 341 s.v. חָפָא). However, the pagan practices specified in the following sentences were hardly done in secret. Others propose a meaning “ascribe, impute,” which makes good contextual sense but has little etymological support (see HALOT 339 s.v. חפא). In this case Israel claimed that the Lord authorized their pagan practices.

[17:9]  ⁴ sn That is, from the city’s perimeter to the central citadel.

[23:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”

[23:8]  ⁵ sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.

[23:8]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.