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1 Kings 15:9–15 — Asa Reigns in Judah. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

As Asa ascended the throne in the twentieth year of the reign of Jeroboam, his father Abijam, who began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam ( 1 Kings 15:1 ), can only have reigned two years and a few months, and not three full years.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The LXX. in accordance with the addition in the previous verse says the ‘twenty-fourth.’

Cambridge is recording a real textual variant, not endorsing it; the Masoretic "twentieth" is what the Hebrew before us says.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

This reign is related at much greater length in 2 Chronicles 14 . - 16. We are there told of the Ethiopian invasion, of the prophecies of Azariah and Hanani, of the league with Syria, etc.

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In the twentieth year of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Asa became king of Judah,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

‘eś·rîm ū·ḇiš·naṯ lə·yā·rā·ḇə·‘ām me·leḵ yiś·rā·’êl ’ā·sā mā·laḵ me·leḵ yə·hū·ḏāh

Word by word9 · parsed

עֶשְׂרִ֔ים‘eś·rîmIn the twentiethH6242

√ ʻesrîym — twentyNumbercommon plural

וּבִשְׁנַ֣תū·ḇiš·naṯyearH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

shâneh, a year as a revolution of time The book's whole architecture hangs on this construct chain: every Judahite king is dated by an Israelite king and every Israelite king by a Judahite. The synchronism is not decoration but the historian's argument that the two kingdoms are one divided story under one covenant clock. Cambridge records that the LXX, following its longer plus in the previous verse, reads "twenty-fourth" here.

לְיָרָבְעָ֖םlə·yā·rā·ḇə·‘āmof Jeroboam’sH3379

√ Yârobʻâm — Jarobam, the name of two Israelite kingsPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

מֶ֣לֶךְme·leḵreignH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לyiś·rā·’êlover IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

אָסָ֖א’ā·sāAsaH609

√ ʼÂçâʼ — Asa, the name of a king and of a LeviteNounpropermasculine singular

מָלַ֥ךְmā·laḵbecame kingH4427

√ mâlak — to reignVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

mâlak, to reign (Qal perfect) The accession verb. K&D works the arithmetic from it: if Asa ascended in Jeroboam's twentieth year and Abijam began in the eighteenth, Abijam's "three years" (1 Kings 15:2) can only be two years and a few months, counted by part-years.

מֶ֥לֶךְme·leḵ. . .H4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

יְהוּדָֽה׃yə·hū·ḏāhof JudahH3063

√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

Yᵉhûwdâh, Judah The southern kingdom named by the tribe that carries the promise of Genesis 49:10 and the Davidic house; the northern kingdom is named Israel in the same verse. The verse thus puts the two names, and the two claims, in one line.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-in-year twenty of-Jeroboam king-of Israel, reigned Asa king of-Judah.

Where the English smooths the original

וּבִשְׁנַ֣ת וּבִשְׁנַת (ū·ḇiš·naṯ, H8141 shâneh, feminine singular construct) is bound to the number that follows: literally "and-in-year-of twenty." The English "In the twentieth year of Jeroboam's reign" reads as a smooth date; the Hebrew is a bare synchronism clause, and Poole reads it "In or towards the end of the year," which is why K&D must reckon Abijam's three regnal years as barely two.
מָלַ֥ךְ מָלַךְ (mā·laḵ, H4427, Qal perfect 3ms) is a finite verb, "he reigned / he became king," not the English noun phrase "Jeroboam's reign." Cambridge notes the Revised Version corrects "reigned Asa" to "began Asa to reign," which is the inceptive force the perfect carries in these accession formulas.
מֶ֥לֶךְ מֶלֶךְ (me·leḵ, H4428) occurs twice in the verse, once of Jeroboam over Israel and once of Asa over Judah, and the second is left untranslated in the BSB gloss line (". . ."). The Hebrew sets two kings of one people side by side in a single breath; the English keeps only one of the two titles.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

She appears, however, still to have retained the place of “queen-mother,” to the exclusion of the real mother of the king.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

And his grandmother’s name may be here mentioned, rather than his mother’s, because his mother was either an obscure person, or was dead, or unwilling to take care of the education of her son, and so he was educated by the grandmother, who, though she poisoned his father Abijam with her idolatrous principles, ( 1 Kings 15:12 ,) yet could not infect Asa, nor withhold him from prosecuting his good purposes of reforming religion.

Benson's reasons (an obscure or dead mother) are conjecture offered as conjecture; his point that the idolatrous tutor could not infect the pupil is the text's own contrast.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

she is called his mother, not because she brought him forth, but because she brought him up; and this is observed to his commendation, that though he was educated by an idolatrous woman, yet was not corrupted by her as his father was.

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and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mā·laḵ bî·rū·šā·lim wə·’ar·bā·‘îm wə·’a·ḥaṯ šā·nāh ’im·mōw wə·šêm ma·‘ă·ḵāh baṯ- ’ă·ḇî·šā·lō·wm

Word by word10 · parsed

מָלַ֖ךְmā·laḵand he reignedH4427

√ mâlak — to reignVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

mâlak, to reign Forty one years, longer than David's or Solomon's forty. Gill draws the observation out as a covenant reward: "being a good king, had the blessing of a long reign."

בִּירוּשָׁלִָ֑םbî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

וְאַרְבָּעִ֤יםwə·’ar·bā·‘îmforty-oneH705

√ ʼarbâʻîym — fortyConjunctive wawNumbercommon plural

וְאַחַת֙wə·’a·ḥaṯ. . .H259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iConjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular construct

שָׁנָ֔הšā·nāhyearsH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular

אִמּ֔וֹ’im·mōwHis grandmother’sH517

√ ʼêm — a mother (as the bond of the family)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

ʼêm, a mother, the bond of the family The word that the whole verse and the deposition of v. 13 turn on. Barnes and Ellicott agree that Maacah is grandmother, not mother, and that she holds the office anyway; the Pulpit records Bahr's objection that everywhere else this word designates the king's own mother, and calls the difficulty one that does not admit of a ready solution.

וְשֵׁ֣םwə·šêmnameH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

מַעֲכָ֖הma·‘ă·ḵāhwas MaacahH4601

√ Maʻăkâh — Maakah (or Maakath), the name of a place in Syria, also of a Mesopotamian, of three Israelites, and of four Israelitesses and one Syrian womanNounproperfeminine singular

Maʻăkâh, Maakah A relatively rare name in the record (23 verses), and here identical with the notice at 1 Kings 15:2 about Abijam's mother, which is what forces every commentator into explanation.

בַּת־baṯ-daughterH1323

√ bath — a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine singular construct

אֲבִישָׁלֽוֹם׃’ă·ḇî·šā·lō·wmof AbishalomH53

√ ʼĂbîyshâlôwm — Abshalom, a son of DavidNounpropermasculine singular

ʼĂbîyshâlôwm, Abshalom The lexicon identifies this entry as the name of David's son, and the same Strong's number stands behind both spellings. ⚙ If the identification holds, Asa's reforming zeal falls on the house of the man who once tore the kingdom, and the Horror goes to burn in the Kidron ravine. That last resonance is our inference, not the historian's claim, and not a link the Verifier computed; the brief supplies only the name and its lexicon entry.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-forty and-one year he-reigned in-Jerusalem; and-name-of his-mother Maacah daughter-of Abishalom.

Where the English smooths the original

אִמּ֔וֹ אִמּוֹ (’im·mōw, H517 ʼêm with 3ms suffix) says simply "his mother." The BSB renders "His grandmother's," which is almost certainly the right referent but is an interpretation, not the Hebrew word. Benson and Poole both defend it by the same idiom that lets 1 Kings 15:3 call David Abijam's "father": ancestor language is elastic in both directions.
וְשֵׁ֣ם וְשֵׁם (wə·šêm, H8034, construct) opens the fixed formula of the Judahite regnal notice, "and the name of his mother was...". The English "His grandmother's name was" loses that this is a standing constitutional entry in the record, which is exactly why Barnes infers that queen mother was a defined court office.
אֲבִישָׁלֽוֹם׃ אֲבִישָׁלוֹם (’ă·ḇî·šā·lō·wm, H53) is the long form of the name the lexicon glosses "Abshalom, a son of David." English "Abishalom" hides from the reader that the Hebrew is the same entry as Absalom; whether this is David's son is a separate and disputed question (see the flagged thread).
וְאַרְבָּעִ֤ים וְאַרְבָּעִים וְאַחַת שָׁנָה (wə·’ar·bā·‘îm wə·’a·ḥaṯ šā·nāh) is "forty and one year," the noun in the singular after the compound number, as Hebrew requires. The English "forty-one years" is correct but flattens the idiom.

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Asa resolved—perhaps under the guidance of the prophets Azariah and Hanani ( 2Chronicles 15:1 ; 2Chronicles 16:7 )—to renew the true strength of his kingdom by restoring the worship and trusting in the blessings of the true God, extirpating by repeated efforts the false worships introduced by Rehoboam and continued by Abijah,

Ellicott is filling in from 2 Chronicles 14 and 15 what 1 Kings compresses into four verses; the prophets Azariah and Hanani are not named anywhere in this unit.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

as to the government of his kingdom and life, and the reformation and establishment of God’s worship.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

It is a wonder how Ass should be good, of the seed of Abijam, of the son of Maachah

The Pulpit is quoting Bishop Hall; "Ass" is the volume's recurring typesetting of Asa, preserved here verbatim.

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And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ā·sā way·ya·‘aś hay·yā·šār bə·‘ê·nê Yah·weh ’ā·ḇîw kə·ḏā·wiḏ

Word by word7 · parsed

אָסָ֛א’ā·sāAnd AsaH609

√ ʼÂçâʼ — Asa, the name of a king and of a LeviteNounpropermasculine singular

וַיַּ֧עַשׂway·ya·‘aśdidH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâsâh, to do or make (consecutive imperfect) The narrative verb that will govern the next three verses of action. Poole keeps it concrete: this rightness is "as to the government of his kingdom and life, and the reformation and establishment of God's worship."

הַיָּשָׁ֖רhay·yā·šārwhat was rightH3477

√ yâshâr — straight (literally or figuratively)ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

yâshâr, straight, upright The verdict formula of Kings. Every reign in the book is filed under this word or its opposite, and the standard is fixed outside the king: the eyes of YHWH, not the judgment of the court or the census of the shrines. Asa is the first king of Judah since David's own line began to split to receive it without qualification in the opening clause.

בְּעֵינֵ֣יbə·‘ê·nêin the eyesH5869

√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdc

ʻayin, an eye, literally or figuratively The organ of assessment. In this same book the phrase measures Solomon, Jeroboam and Abijam; here it acquits Asa, and in v. 14 it will be quietly reasserted over what he failed to pull down.

יְהוָ֑הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אָבִֽיו׃’ā·ḇîwas his fatherH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

כְּדָוִ֖דkə·ḏā·wiḏDavid [had done]H1732

√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JessePreposition-kNounpropermasculine singular

Dâvid David is the canon of kingship in Kings, not because he was sinless (1 Kings 15:5 has just conceded Uriah) but because his heart was undivided toward one God. Gill: Asa "made David his pattern and example to copy after."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-did Asa the-right in-eyes-of YHWH, like-David his-father.

Where the English smooths the original

הַיָּשָׁ֖ר הַיָּשָׁר (hay·yā·šār, H3477 yâshâr, with the article) is an adjective made a noun: "the straight thing," the level and upright, not an abstract "what was right." The root is spatial before it is moral, and the article makes it the known standard, not one right act among many.
בְּעֵינֵ֣י בְּעֵינֵי (bə·‘ê·nê, H5869 ʻayin, dual construct) is "in the eyes of," a bodily image the English keeps but reads as mere idiom. Henry will not let it go: "That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes." The formula exists precisely because Judges 17:6 records the other standard, right in a man's own eyes.
כְּדָוִ֖ד כְּדָוִד (kə·ḏā·wiḏ, preposition k + David) is "like David," a comparison of pattern, not the English clause "as his father David had done" with its supplied verb. The Hebrew measures Asa against a person, not against a record of deeds.
אָבִֽיו׃ אָבִיו (’ā·ḇîw, H1 ʼâb + 3ms) calls David Asa's "father" though David is his great great grandfather, the mirror image of the elastic "mother" of v. 10. The English "his father David" reads as a plain genealogy; the Hebrew is making a claim about which ancestor counts.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The same word is so rendered in 2 Chronicles 15:8 , of these very reforms. Literally it means ‘caused to pass by.’

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

If his father had made them, he had the more need to remove them, that he might cut off the entail of the curse.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

Keil would translate logs , Gesenius trunks, stocks , which from being rolled might well bear this name

The Pulpit is weighing two etymologies it has just called uncertain; the contempt in the word is agreed, the derivation is not.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

either by driving them out of the land, or by putting them to death according to the law of God, Leviticus 20:13 even as many of them as he had knowledge of

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He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·ya·‘ă·ḇêr haq·qə·ḏê·šîm min- hā·’ā·reṣ way·yā·sar ’eṯ- kāl- hag·gil·lu·lîm ’ă·šer ’ă·ḇō·ṯāw ‘ā·śū

Word by word11 · parsed

וַיַּעֲבֵ֥רway·ya·‘ă·ḇêrHe banishedH5674

√ ʻâbar — to cross overConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâbar, to cross over (Hiphil) The reform's first verb is expulsion, not instruction. Cambridge links the same verb to 2 Chronicles 15:8. Benson and Poole both note the limit of the achievement from the text itself: 1 Kings 22:46 shows Jehoshaphat still removing the remnant that escaped Asa's search.

הַקְּדֵשִׁ֖יםhaq·qə·ḏê·šîmthe male shrine prostitutesH6945

√ qâdêsh — a (quasi) sacred person, iArticleAdjectivemasculine plural

qâdêsh, a quasi sacred person A genuinely rare word, standing in only six verses of the Hebrew Bible, and every one of them is a purge or a prohibition (Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12; 1 Kings 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14). Its rarity is itself a verdict: the institution never becomes ordinary vocabulary in Israel's record.

מִן־min-fromH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

הָאָ֑רֶץhā·’ā·reṣthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular

וַיָּ֙סַר֙way·yā·sarand removedH5493

√ çûwr — to turn off (literal or figurative)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

çûwr, to turn off (Hiphil) "He caused to turn aside." The same root will return in v. 13 of Maacah and in v. 14, in the Qal, of the high places that did not turn aside. Three uses, two successes and one failure, hold the whole unit together.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הַגִּלֻּלִ֔יםhag·gil·lu·lîmthe idolsH1544

√ gillûwl — properly, a log (as round)ArticleNounmasculine plural

gillûwl, properly, a log (as round) The prophets' favorite sneer for idols, concentrated in Ezekiel and in Leviticus 26:30, which K&D cites as the pattern. The word refuses the idols any dignity of form: they are rolled things, stumps, lumps. What the fathers made, the son treats as firewood.

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

אֲבֹתָֽיו׃’ă·ḇō·ṯāwhis fathersH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

ʼâb, father Plural here, and damning. The verse names the transmission line of the sin without naming the men; Benson's comment is exact, that a father's manufacture gave the son "the more need to remove them."

עָשׂ֖וּ‘ā·śūhad madeH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-caused-to-pass-over the-qedeshim from the-land, and-he-removed all the-rolled-things which his-fathers had-made.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיַּעֲבֵ֥ר וַיַּעֲבֵר (way·ya·‘ă·ḇêr, H5674 ʻâbar, Hiphil) is causative: "he made them cross over, he put them across and out." Cambridge notes it "Literally means 'caused to pass by'" and that the same verb is used of these very reforms in 2 Chronicles 15:8. "Banished" is a fair but tamer word for a king physically driving them over the border.
הַקְּדֵשִׁ֖ים הַקְּדֵשִׁים (haq·qə·ḏê·šîm, H6945 qâdêsh) is built from the root for holiness, a "quasi sacred person" per the lexicon, so the Hebrew word itself is an accusation: consecrated persons whose consecration is an obscenity. The English "male shrine prostitutes" states the practice and loses the bitter irony of the root.
הַגִּלֻּלִ֔ים הַגִּלֻּלִים (hag·gil·lu·lîm, H1544 gillûwl) is not the neutral "idols." K&D derives it from gālal, to roll, and translates "logs" or "masses of stone"; the Pulpit lays out both options, a ball of dung or a heap of stones, and calls the choice uncertain. Either way it is a term of contempt the English does not carry.
אֲבֹתָֽיו׃ אֲבֹתָיו (’ă·ḇō·ṯāw, plural of H1) is "his fathers," the same word that in v. 11 made David his pattern. One verse calls an ancestor his glory, the next makes ancestors the source of what he must burn. Gill reads it as "or suffered to be made, as Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijam."

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

It is derived from a root signifying "fear" or "trembling," and may perhaps best be understood as "a fright, a horror."

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Her title, and the privileges connected with that honor and dignity which gave her precedency among the ladies of the royal family, and great influence in the kingdom, were taken away. She was degraded for her idolatry.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Neither kindred nor authority should be regarded when they blaspheme God and become idolaters, but must be punished.

The Geneva gloss is a Reformation political argument drawn from the verse; the text reports Asa's act without commanding it of anyone else.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The name is connected with several events which mark it as a spot of evil fame.

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He also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ḡam ’eṯ- way·si·re·hā ’im·mōw ma·‘ă·ḵāh mig·gə·ḇî·rāh ’ă·šer- ‘ā·śə·ṯāh mip̄·le·ṣeṯ lā·’ă·šê·rāh ’ā·sā ’eṯ- way·yiḵ·rōṯ mip̄·laṣ·tāh way·yiś·rōp̄ qiḏ·rō·wn bə·na·ḥal

Word by word17 · parsed

וְגַ֣ם׀wə·ḡamHe alsoH1571

√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וַיְסִרֶ֙הָ֙way·si·re·hāremovedH5493

√ çûwr — to turn off (literal or figurative)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person feminine singular

çûwr, to turn off (Hiphil, with 3fs suffix) The same causative verb as v. 12, now with a person as its object and a feminine suffix: he turned her aside. The parallel is deliberate. Idols and the patroness of idols are removed by one and the same royal act, which is Henry's point that reformation must begin at home.

אִמּ֗וֹ’im·mōwhis grandmotherH517

√ ʼêm — a mother (as the bond of the family)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

מַעֲכָ֣הma·‘ă·ḵāhMaacahH4601

√ Maʻăkâh — Maakah (or Maakath), the name of a place in Syria, also of a Mesopotamian, of three Israelites, and of four Israelitesses and one Syrian womanNounproperfeminine singular

מִגְּבִירָ֔הmig·gə·ḇî·rāhfrom [her position as] queen motherH1377

√ gᵉbîyrâh — a mistressPreposition-mNounfeminine singular

gᵉbîyrâh, a mistress A rare title, in only six verses (1 Kings 11:19; 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 10:13; 2 Chronicles 15:16; Jeremiah 13:18; Jeremiah 29:2), and in nearly all of them it names real political power: the queen mother is deposed with the king in Jeremiah 29:2 and told to come down from her throne in Jeremiah 13:18. Barnes reads the formula of v. 10 as proof the office was definite and singular, held by one woman at a time.

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-becauseH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

עָשְׂתָ֥ה‘ā·śə·ṯāhshe had madeH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular

מִפְלֶ֖צֶתmip̄·le·ṣeṯa detestableH4656

√ miphletseth — a terror, iNounfeminine singular

miphletseth, a terror A word the Hebrew Bible uses twice in total, here and in the Chronicles parallel, coined for this object alone. K&D defends formido, an object of fear, against the rabbinic and Movers reading of it as pudendum, a shameful phallic image; Poole, Gill and JFB lean the obscene way, Barnes toward a grotesque idol like the Egyptian Phthah. The honest position is the Pulpit's: the root means horror, and what precisely stood in the grove is not recoverable.

לָאֲשֵׁרָ֑הlā·’ă·šê·rāhAsherah poleH842

√ ʼăshêrâh — Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddessPreposition-l, ArticleNounfeminine singular

ʼăshêrâh, Asherah, a Phoenician goddess The lexicon names the goddess; the noun in the text is the cult object made for her. Cambridge notes the word is used sometimes for the goddess and sometimes for the idol that represents her, which is why the Hebrew here can say a horror was made "for" it.

אָסָא֙’ā·sāAsaH609

√ ʼÂçâʼ — Asa, the name of a king and of a LeviteNounpropermasculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וַיִּכְרֹ֤תway·yiḵ·rōṯchopped downH3772

√ kârath — to cut (off, down or asunder)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

kârath, to cut off, down, or asunder Cambridge: "The verb indicates the manner of the destruction, and shews that the image was such that it could be cut down as you would cut down a tree." This is the standing verb of covenant making, to cut a covenant; here the same verb cuts down what rivals it. The next verb, burning, proves the material was wood.

מִפְלַצְתָּ֔הּmip̄·laṣ·tāhthe poleH4656

√ miphletseth — a terror, iNounfeminine singular constructthird person feminine singular

וַיִּשְׂרֹ֖ףway·yiś·rōp̄and burnedH8313

√ sâraph — to be (causatively, set) on fireConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

sâraph, to set on fire Fire is the prescribed treatment for the Asherah (Deuteronomy 12:3) and the treatment Moses gave the calf at Exodus 32:20, which Poole and Gill both cite. Benson gives the logic of the location: burned to powder by the water, the thing becomes "unfit for any use."

קִדְרֽוֹן׃qiḏ·rō·wnit in the KidronH6939

√ Qidrôwn — Kidron, a brook near JerusalemNounproperfeminine singular

Qidrôwn, Kidron, a brook near Jerusalem Only ten verses in the Hebrew Bible name it, and Cambridge lists what happened there: this burning, the execution of Athaliah (2 Kings 11:16), and the later dumping of Josiah's and Hezekiah's purges (2 Kings 23:4, 6, 12; 2 Chronicles 29:16; 30:14). It is Jerusalem's ash heap, the place a holy city puts what it must not keep.

בְּנַ֥חַלbə·na·ḥalValleyH5158

√ nachal — a stream, especially a winter torrentPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-also Maacah his-mother, and-he-removed-her from-queen-mother, because she-had-made a-horror for-the-Asherah; and-Asa cut-down her-horror and-burned it in-the-wadi Kidron.

Where the English smooths the original

מִגְּבִירָ֔ה מִגְּבִירָה (mig·gə·ḇî·rāh, H1377 gᵉbîyrâh, from the root of gibbor, mighty) is not the ordinary word for queen. Cambridge: "The title is not the usual word for 'queen' but one which implies special authority and influence." The Pulpit renders it by the Ottoman title Sultana Valide. The English "from her position as queen mother" is accurate and colorless.
מִפְלֶ֖צֶת מִפְלֶצֶת (mip̄·le·ṣeṯ, H4656) occurs only here and in the parallel at 2 Chronicles 15:16. Barnes: it "is derived from a root signifying 'fear' or 'trembling,'" a thing of horror. The BSB's adjective "detestable" turns a noun into a modifier; in Hebrew the object simply is a Horror, and Asa later cuts down "her horror."
לָאֲשֵׁרָ֑ה לָאֲשֵׁרָה (lā·’ă·šê·rāh, preposition l + article + H842) is "for the Asherah," not "an Asherah pole" in apposition. Ellicott insists on the correction: read "for an asherah," the wooden emblem. The lamed makes Maacah's object a substitute standing in for the cult emblem, which is why the commentators call it a greater abomination than the ordinary one.
בְּנַ֥חַל בְּנַחַל (bə·na·ḥal, H5158 nachal) is a wadi, a winter torrent bed, dry most of the year. The Pulpit faults the English "brook": the translators could not adhere to "in the brook" because they did not know that nachal also means watercourse, valley. The burning happened in the ravine; the ashes could then be carried off by water.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

the craving for local and visible sanctuaries, natural at all times, and especially in generations which had been degraded by gross idolatry, proved too strong for even earnest reformers.

source ↗

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

he did sincerely and constantly adhere to the worship and service of God.

source ↗

Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Though he permitted them to worship God in other places than he had appointed it came from ignorance, and not from malice.

source ↗

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

We have here a notable instance of the Oriental exaggeration just referred to. For the very same expression is used by the chronicler ( 2 Chronicles 15:17 ), who in the next chapter (2 Chronic;es 16:7-12) tells us of Asa's unfaithfulness in his old age.

The Pulpit's caution is the necessary counterweight to "all his days"; the same corpus that praises Asa also records his late failure.

source ↗

The high places were not removed, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted to the LORD all his days.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·hab·bā·mō·wṯ lō- sā·rū raq ’ā·sā lə·ḇaḇ- hā·yāh šā·lêm ‘im- Yah·weh kāl- yā·māw

Word by word12 · parsed

וְהַבָּמ֖וֹתwə·hab·bā·mō·wṯThe high placesH1116

√ bâmâh — an elevationConjunctive waw, ArticleNounfeminine plural

bâmâh, an elevation K&D argues from the formula's other occurrences (1 Kings 22:44; 2 Kings 12:4; 14:4; 15:4) that these are not idol shrines but unlawful altars to YHWH, since v. 12 has already destroyed the idolatrous ones. Poole and Benson agree and add the political reason: pulling down the local YHWH altars risked leaving many with no worship at all while the northern border was hostile.

לֹא־lō-were notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

סָ֑רוּsā·rūremovedH5493

√ çûwr — to turn off (literal or figurative)VerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

çûwr, to turn off (Qal) The third appearance of this root in three verses, and the only one where it is not Asa acting. He caused the idols to turn aside and caused Maacah to turn aside; the high places simply did not turn aside. The grammar quietly distinguishes what a reformer can do from what he cannot.

רַ֣קraqbutH7535

√ raq — properly, leanness, iAdverb

raq, only, nevertheless A restrictive particle from a root meaning leanness, and the hinge of the unit. It does not reverse the clause before it (the high places really did not depart); it fences that failure off so the verdict can stand beside it rather than instead of it. The same particle does the same work through the rest of Kings, conceding one standing defect in an otherwise approved reign, which is how the formula can be repeated of Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah and Jotham without ever once acquitting the shrines themselves.

אָסָ֗א’ā·sāAsa’sH609

√ ʼÂçâʼ — Asa, the name of a king and of a LeviteNounpropermasculine singular

לְבַב־lə·ḇaḇ-heartH3824

√ lêbâb — the heart (as the most interior organ)Nounmasculine singular construct

הָיָ֥הhā·yāhwasH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

שָׁלֵ֛םšā·lêmfully devotedH8003

√ shâlêm — complete (literally or figuratively)Adjectivemasculine singular

shâlêm, complete, whole The word the Deuteronomic history reserves for the undivided heart, and the standard Solomon failed (1 Kings 11:4, where his heart was not shalem with YHWH as David's was). Applied to Asa with the hilltops still standing, it is a verdict about direction rather than achievement: the man was whole even where the reform was not.

עִם־‘im-toH5973

√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition

יְהוָ֖הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

יָמָֽיו׃yā·māwhis daysH3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

yôwm, a day "All his days." The Pulpit will not let this stand unqualified, since the same historian in 2 Chronicles 16 records Asa's late unfaithfulness; he calls it the Eastern idiom of putting the whole for the part. Henry reads it as the sincerity of a life whose sins "did not arise from presumption."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-the-high-places not they-departed; only, the-heart-of Asa was whole with YHWH all his-days.

Where the English smooths the original

סָ֑רוּ סָרוּ (sā·rū, H5493, Qal perfect 3cp) is intransitive and active: the high places "did not depart." The English passive "were not removed" silently supplies a remover and so implies a failure of will. K&D presses exactly this: the clause does not say the king permitted them, only that they did not go.
רַ֣ק רַק (raq, H7535) is a restrictive particle, "only, nevertheless," from a root meaning leanness. The BSB's "but" reads as simple contrast; raq narrows the concession, conceding the hilltops and reserving everything else. It is the hinge on which the verdict of the verse turns.
שָׁלֵ֛ם שָׁלֵם (šā·lêm, H8003, from the root of shalom) is "complete, whole, at peace," not "fully devoted," which imports a feeling. The claim is structural: the heart was undivided, all of one piece with YHWH. Geneva glosses the gap between that verdict and the standing shrines as ignorance rather than malice.
לְבַב־ לְבַב (lə·ḇaḇ, H3824) is "the heart as the most interior organ," the seat of will and thought rather than affection. "Asa's heart was fully devoted" sounds like warmth; the Hebrew construct chain says the innermost governing center of the man was whole toward YHWH.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

That it was customary thus to dedicate the booty or tribute of conquered and subject peoples we see from 2 Samuel 8:11 , where David dedicates silver and gold taken from all the nations he had subdued.

source ↗

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Probably the spoils which Abijam had taken from the vanquished army of Jeroboam (see 2Ch 13:16). and the things which himself had dedicated—after his own victory over the Cushites (2Ch 14:12).

source ↗

Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

though afterward he did not perform his vows , nor bring into the house of the Lord what he had devoted: probably he was prevented by death.

Benson's explanation of Abijam's unpaid vow is inference from 2 Chronicles 13, not something 1 Kings states; Poole offers the alternative that Abijam relapsed.

source ↗

And he brought into the house of the LORD the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yā·ḇê ’eṯ- bêṯ Yah·weh ke·sep̄ wə·zā·hāḇ wə·ḵê·lîm wə·qå̄·ḏə·šō ’ā·ḇîw qā·ḏə·šê

Word by word10 · parsed

וַיָּבֵא֙way·yā·ḇêAnd he broughtH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

bôwʼ, to go or come (Hiphil) The unit's last verb reverses the direction of the first three. Asa has caused the qedeshim to cross out, caused the idols to turn aside, caused Maacah to be removed; now he causes silver and gold to come in. Henry states the pattern: "We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well."

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

בֵּ֣יתbêṯinto the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

bayith, a house An accusative of place with no preposition, per K&D and the Pulpit. The temple is the destination that makes the objects meaningful; dedicated spoil outside it is only treasure.

יְהוָ֑הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

כֶּ֥סֶףke·sep̄the silverH3701

√ keçeph — silver (from its pale color)Nounmasculine singular

keçeph, silver The pair silver and gold recalls what Shishak carried off from this same house in Rehoboam's day; Ellicott and Cambridge both read this verse as the beginning of the replacement of that loss.

וְזָהָ֖בwə·zā·hāḇand goldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

וְכֵלִֽים׃wə·ḵê·lîmand the articlesH3627

√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural

וְקָדְשׁוֹwə·qå̄·ḏə·šōthat heH6944

√ qôdesh — a sacred place or thingConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct

אָבִ֔יו’ā·ḇîwand his fatherH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

קָדְשֵׁ֣יqā·ḏə·šêhad dedicatedH6944

√ qôdesh — a sacred place or thingNounmasculine plural construct

qôdesh, a sacred place or thing The same root that in v. 12 stood behind qâdêsh, the quasi sacred person Asa drove out of the land. The unit begins with holiness counterfeited and ends with holiness rightly placed: what is set apart either enters the house of YHWH or leaves the land. Ellicott and JFB take the objects to be spoil, from Abijam's victory over Jeroboam and Asa's over the Cushites.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-brought-in the-holy-things-of his-father and-his-own-holy-things, the-house-of YHWH: silver and-gold and-vessels.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיָּבֵא֙ וַיָּבֵא (way·yā·ḇê, H935 bôwʼ, Hiphil) is "he caused to come in." K&D notes that "house of Jehovah" here is an accusative directly governed by this verb, with no preposition in the Hebrew at all; the Pulpit says the same. The English "into the house of the LORD" supplies a word the text does without.
קָדְשֵׁ֣י קָדְשֵׁי (qā·ḏə·šê, H6944 qôdesh, construct plural) is a noun, "the holy things of," not the verb "had dedicated." Pulpit renders it literally: "the holy things of his father." The Hebrew names a class of objects already sanctified; the English turns them back into an action.
וְקָדְשׁוֹ וְקָדְשׁוֹ (wə·qå̄·ḏə·šō) is the Kethib, "and his holy thing," which K&D defends as correct against the Qere wᵉqodšê, calling the Qere "a bad emendation." The English smooths both readings into one parallel clause and leaves no trace of the variant.
וְכֵלִֽים׃ וְכֵלִים (wə·ḵê·lîm, H3627 kᵉlîy) is "vessels, prepared things, implements," a broad word. "The articles" is vague where the Hebrew means temple equipment of the sort Shishak had stripped away in 1 Kings 14:26, now partly replaced.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A date, a mother, and a kingdom held in two hands — 9-10

The unit opens not with Asa but with Jeroboam: וּבִשְׁנַת עֶשְׂרִים, "and in the twentieth year" of the other king, over the other people. K&D turns that synchronism into arithmetic and concludes that Abijam's reign "can only have reigned two years and a few months, and not three full years"; Cambridge records that the Greek tradition, following its longer plus, reads twenty fourth instead. Then the second notice, and the whole problem of the unit arrives in one word: אִמּוֹ, "his mother," Maacah daughter of Abishalom, word for word the same clause the historian already used of Abijam's mother at 1 Kings 15:2. Ellicott's solution is the standard one, that she "appears, however, still to have retained the place of 'queen-mother,' to the exclusion of the real mother of the king"; Barnes reasons from the fixity of the formula that the office was definite and singular; Gill, Poole and Benson all explain "mother" as grandmother by the same idiom that calls David Abijam's father. The Pulpit alone preserves the dissent, recording Bahr's objection that everywhere else the word designates the king's own mother, and admitting the difficulty "by no means admits of a ready solution." ⚙ The historian, for his part, leaves the ambiguity standing and lets it become the hinge: the woman named in the accession formula is the woman deposed three verses later.

ii. The straight thing, and three things caused to go — 11-13

The verdict formula lands: Asa did הַיָּשָׁר, the straight thing, בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה, in the eyes of YHWH, like David his father. Henry takes the measure of that phrase ("That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes"), Poole specifies its scope as government and worship together, and the Pulpit quotes Bishop Hall's astonishment that such a man came "of the seed of Abijam, of the son of Maachah." Then three causative verbs in a row. He caused to pass over (וַיַּעֲבֵר, Hiphil of ʻâbar) the קְדֵשִׁים out of the land, a word Cambridge shows is the same one used of these reforms in 2 Chronicles 15:8, and one that stands in only six verses of the whole Hebrew Bible. He caused to turn aside (וַיָּסַר) the גִּלֻּלִים, which K&D refuses to translate "idols" at all, deriving it from the root to roll and rendering it "logs"; the Pulpit weighs dung balls against stone heaps and declines to decide. And he caused Maacah to turn aside from being גְּבִירָה, a title Cambridge notes "is not the usual word for 'queen' but one which implies special authority and influence." Her object was a מִפְלֶצֶת, a word found in Scripture only here and in the Chronicles parallel; Barnes traces it to a root of fear and trembling, "a fright, a horror," while Gill, Poole and JFB pass on the rabbinic reading of an obscene figure and K&D argues firmly against it for formido, a thing of dread. Asa cut it down (the verb, Cambridge observes, "shews that the image was such that it could be cut down as you would cut down a tree") and burned it in the Kidron wadi. Geneva draws the political moral: "Neither kindred nor authority should be regarded when they blaspheme God."

iii. Only: what did not depart, and what was carried in — 14-15

Then the sentence every reforming king in this book receives. וְהַבָּמוֹת לֹא־סָרוּ: the high places did not depart, the verb active and intransitive, the same root that Asa had just twice wielded in the causative. K&D insists the clause does not say the king tolerated them, only that they did not go, "so that he was unable to carry the abolition of them thoroughly out"; Poole and Benson add that these were altars to the true God in the wrong places, and that tearing them down risked leaving the people with no worship at all on a hostile frontier; Ellicott names the deeper cause, that "the craving for local and visible sanctuaries" proved "too strong for even earnest reformers." And yet רַק, only, nevertheless: the heart of Asa was שָׁלֵם, whole, with YHWH all his days, the very word Solomon's heart failed to be at 1 Kings 11:4. The Pulpit will not let that stand unchallenged, pointing out that the chronicler who writes the identical clause also records Asa's late unfaithfulness. The last verb reverses all the others: he caused to come in the holy things, silver and gold and vessels, into a house Shishak had emptied. Cambridge notes the custom is David's own at 2 Samuel 8:11, and Ellicott that these spoils "replenished for a time the treasury, swept bare in the reign of Rehoboam."

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Fallible synthesis, offered to be tested by Scripture. Read the verbs and the unit reads itself. Four times something is caused to move: the consecrated men are caused to cross the border, the rolled logs are caused to turn aside, the queen mother is caused to turn aside, and at the end the holy things are caused to come in. Between them stands one verb with no causer at all: the high places did not depart. Asa is strong enough to depose the most powerful woman in the kingdom and burn her Horror in the city's ash ravine, and he is not strong enough to empty the hilltops. The historian does not resolve that, and neither should we. What he does instead is put the word שָׁלֵם on the man rather than on the reform. The heart was whole; the work was not. That is a distinction the commentators feel and handle variously, Geneva by pleading ignorance rather than malice, Poole by pleading prudence, the Pulpit by pleading Eastern exaggeration and reminding us of 2 Chronicles 16. ⚙ We would put it differently: this book measures kings by direction, not by completion, because completion was never in a king's hands. The line that begins with a man called whole while the shrines still stand is a line waiting for a King whose obedience and whose cleansing are the same size. The sentence below is our own reading, not Scripture, and should be weighed as such.

A heart can be called whole while the hilltops still stand, because Kings measures direction, not completion. (⚙ synthesis, not Scripture)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The six verses of the qedeshim: a rare word that only ever appears in a purge verbal / quotation: confirmed

The word Asa drove out of the land, קְדֵשִׁים (qâdêsh, H6945), stands in only six verses of the Hebrew Bible, and the Verifier's candidate list surfaces four of them against this unit. Deuteronomy 23:17 forbids the office; 1 Kings 14:24 reports it established under Rehoboam; here Asa expels it; 1 Kings 22:46 records Jehoshaphat removing what was left, which Poole, Benson and Gill all cite as proof Asa's search was incomplete; 2 Kings 23:7 has Josiah tearing down their quarters in the house of the LORD itself. Job 36:14 is the outlier, using the word of those who die in youth. ⚙ The rarity is the point: Israel's record never lets this institution settle into ordinary vocabulary. Every occurrence is a law against it or a king pulling it down.

Deuteronomy 23:17 · 1 Kings 14:24 · 1 Kings 22:46 · 2 Kings 23:7

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H6945 qâdêsh, a rare word standing in only 6 verses total (candidates 1 Kings 22:46, 2 Kings 23:7, Job 36:14, Deuteronomy 23:17, 1 Kings 14:24). The link is lexical rarity, not a quotation of one text by another.

Gebirah: the office Asa took away, and what the prophets do with it verbal / quotation: confirmed

גְּבִירָה (gᵉbîyrâh, H1377) is as rare as qâdêsh, six verses in all, and the Verifier returns four of them. At 1 Kings 11:19 it is Pharaoh's own queen; at 2 Kings 10:13 the relatives of Ahaziah go down to greet the children of the king and of the gebirah, which is how Jehu finds them; Jeremiah 13:18 commands "say to the king and to the gebirah, come down from your thrones"; Jeremiah 29:2 dates a letter by the exile of Jeconiah and the gebirah. ⚙ In every case the title is political, not domestic, which is exactly what Barnes and Cambridge infer here from the fixed formula of v. 10 and from the title's unusual weight. Asa is not snubbing his grandmother; he is abolishing a seat of state. JFB records the same judgment: "he did not spare delinquents even of the highest rank."

1 Kings 11:19 · 2 Kings 10:13 · Jeremiah 13:18 · Jeremiah 29:2

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H1377 gᵉbîyrâh, in only 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible (candidates Jeremiah 13:18, Jeremiah 29:2, 2 Kings 10:13, 1 Kings 11:19). Rare-lexeme verbal link within a shared institution, with no quotation claimed in either direction.

The Kidron as Jerusalem's ash heap: from Asa to Josiah to the promise verbal / quotation: confirmed

Asa burns the Horror בְּנַחַל קִדְרוֹן, in the wadi Kidron, and the Verifier returns the later kings who do the same in the same place with the same verb. 2 Kings 23:6 shares all three words, sâraph to burn, Qidrôwn, and nachal: Josiah brings the Asherah out of the house of the LORD and burns it at the Kidron torrent. 2 Kings 23:4 repeats the burning and the Asherah; 2 Chronicles 30:14 has Hezekiah's Jerusalem carrying its altars there. Barnes notices the reason for the location: "The object probably was to prevent the pollution of the holy city by even the ashes from the burning," and Benson adds that powder thrown into water is "unfit for any use." ⚙ Jeremiah 31:40 then closes the loop the Verifier itself flags, pairing Kidron with qôdesh: the whole valley of the ashes and the fields as far as the brook Kidron "shall be holy to the LORD." The dump becomes sanctified ground.

2 Kings 23:4 · 2 Kings 23:6 · 2 Chronicles 30:14 · Jeremiah 31:40

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6939 Qidrôwn (in 10 vv, rare) with H8313 sâraph and H5158 nachal at 2 Kings 23:6 and 23:4; H6939 with H5493 çûwr at 2 Chronicles 30:14; H6939 with H5158 nachal and H6944 qôdesh at Jeremiah 31:40. Rare place-name plus shared action verbs; no text quotes another.

The Chronicler's parallel, and the two sentences that will not agree structural / thematic: confirmed

2 Chronicles 15:16 is the synoptic twin of v. 13, and 2 Chronicles 15:17 of v. 14, close to word for word in Hebrew. The friction is with 2 Chronicles 14:3 and 14:5, which say Asa did take away the high places. Poole states the classic harmonization (idolatrous high places removed, unlawful altars to the true God left), Benson follows him, and Cambridge splits it geographically: removed in Judah, not in Israel. K&D rejects the distinction outright and argues instead that Asa attempted the abolition and could not carry it through the nation, and the Pulpit appeals to the Eastern idiom of putting the whole for the part. ⚙ We record the disagreement rather than choosing: the harmonizations are reasonable and none of them is stated by either text.

2 Chronicles 15:16 · 2 Chronicles 15:17 · 2 Chronicles 14:3

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H609 ʼÂçâʼ (in 52 vv), H4601 Maʻăkâh (in 23 vv) and H517 ʼêm (in 202 vv) at 2 Chronicles 15:16; H609 with H5493 çûwr at 2 Chronicles 15:17. Deliberately tiered below verbal: the passages are near-identical synoptic parallels, but the shared lexemes the Verifier records are proper names and common words, not rare ones, so a verbal tier would rest on impression rather than on the computed basis. 2 Chronicles 14:3 is adduced for the contradiction, not from a computed lexeme pair.

Maacah daughter of Abishalom: the same clause twice, and nobody sure why flagged: verify source

1 Kings 15:2 gives Abijam's mother in exactly the words v. 10 gives Asa's, and the Verifier confirms the overlap (H4601 Maakah, H53 Abishalom, H4427 to reign). Every reading of it is contested. K&D says Maacah simply kept the office through her grandson's accession, as Ephrem Syrus and the rabbins held, and warns that Thenius uses the verse to build emendations of the text. The Pulpit reports Bahr's twofold objection and then the alternatives: read Uriel of Gibeah for Abishalom, or take the historian as mistaken about Abijam's mother, given the Michaiah of 2 Chronicles 13:2. Cambridge adds that the Vatican LXX names Asa's mother Ana rather than Maachah, "but this is not supported by any other evidence." ⚙ We flag this rather than resolve it: the identity of Abishalom with David's son Absalom, the relationship of Maacah to Asa, and the Greek variant are all disputed, and the honest position is the Pulpit's, that the difficulty by no means admits of a ready solution.

1 Kings 15:2 · 2 Chronicles 11:21 · 2 Chronicles 13:2

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H4427 mâlak (in 284 vv), H53 ʼĂbîyshâlôwm (in 92 vv), H4601 Maʻăkâh (in 23 vv) at 1 Kings 15:2. The verbal overlap is certain; the referent is not. Named textual disputes: Vatican LXX reads Ana for Maachah (Cambridge); Bahr disputes that ʼêm can mean grandmother (Pulpit); Thenius emends the text (K&D). 2 Chronicles 11:21 and 13:2 are cited from the commentators, not from computed lexeme pairs.

A whole heart: the standard Solomon missed and the apostles reasserted structural / thematic: confirmed

Asa's heart is שָׁלֵם with YHWH, the same adjective 1 Kings 11:4 uses of the heart Solomon did not have, "as was the heart of David his father." The unit's own comparison ("like David his father," v. 11) runs on the same standard. ⚙ In Greek the New Testament takes up the measure without taking up the word: Acts 13:22 records God's testimony that David was a man after his own heart who would do all his will, and 1 Samuel 13:14 stands behind it. This link cannot be verbal. Cross-Testament pairs share no Strong's numbers, since one corpus is Hebrew and the other Greek, and Acts is not quoting 1 Kings 15:14. What is shared is the criterion: a whole heart toward one God, weighed apart from the completeness of the record.

1 Kings 11:4 · 1 Samuel 13:14 · Acts 13:22

basis: Shared criterion of the undivided heart. 1 Kings 11:4 is a Hebrew-internal parallel using the same lexeme H8003 shâlêm of the heart, noted from the text and the lexicon rather than from the Verifier candidate list. Acts 13:22 is Greek and so can share no Strong's number with this Hebrew unit; tiered structural for that reason, and no quotation is claimed.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Measured against David, and the son of David the measure was made for ancient/widely-held

The verdict on Asa is comparative: he did the straight thing like David his father. Gill puts it plainly, that he "made David his pattern and example to copy after," and Benson, "Whom he made his pattern; worshipping the Lord alone, and taking away all idols." ⚙ But a pattern that must be re-imposed by every generation is a pattern that has not yet been fulfilled, and Kings knows it: this same formula will acquit Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah and Jotham while the identical concession about the high places follows each one. The Davidic measure was always pointed forward, to the son of David of 2 Samuel 7:12-16 whose throne is established forever, and the apostolic preaching takes up exactly that chain, Acts 13:22-23 moving from David the man after God's own heart directly to the Savior raised from his seed. That the Davidic promise terminates in Christ is the ancient and universal reading of the church; the particular observation about the repeated formula in Kings is our own.

2 Samuel 7:12-16 · Acts 13:22-23 · Luke 1:32-33

The reform that could not finish, and the cleansing that could novel

Asa's reform is real and bounded. He can expel the qedeshim, though 1 Kings 22:46 shows some escaped him; he can cut down the Horror and burn it; he cannot make the high places depart. Ellicott names the reason, that the craving for local and visible sanctuaries "proved too strong for even earnest reformers," and K&D that the king simply "was unable to carry the abolition of them thoroughly out." ⚙ The New Testament's cleansing scenes are built on this shape and then break it. In John 2:14-17 the son does to the house of his Father what Asa did to his grandmother's grove, and the disciples remember a Psalm about zeal consuming him; Hebrews 9:13-14 then relocates the whole problem, from shrines on hilltops to the conscience, and says the blood of Christ cleanses there, where no king's writ ran. The typology of Christ as the true and final purifier of worship is widely held; the specific reading of Asa's unfinished reform as the shape the fulfillment answers is ours.

John 2:14-17 · Hebrews 9:13-14

Across the Kidron, where the abominations were burned novel

Asa carries Maacah's Horror out of the city and burns it in the wadi Kidron, and Cambridge catalogues what else that ravine received: Athaliah's execution, Josiah's ashes, Hezekiah's defilements, everything Jerusalem could not keep and would not house. ⚙ John 18:1 records that Jesus went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, into the garden, on the night he was handed over. This is a geographical fact, not a shared word: Greek and Hebrew share no Strong's numbers, and the Verifier computed no pair here. But the direction of travel is the same direction Asa's fire took, out of the holy city to the place of what must be destroyed, and the letter to the Hebrews states that direction as doctrine: Jesus suffered outside the gate, and we are called to go out to him there, bearing his reproach. The figural reading of the Kidron crossing is offered as ours, to be tested; the "outside the camp" theology of Hebrews 13:11-13 is the text's own.

John 18:1 · Hebrews 13:11-13

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbers; parse data and lexeme frequencies are the Verifier's, not ours. Several points in this unit are genuinely unsettled and are left so. (1) The interlinear gloss line prints the words of vv. 9 and 13 in English order rather than Hebrew order; our literal renderings restore the Hebrew sequence, and the note indices still follow the brief's numbering. (2) "His mother" in vv. 10 and 13 is אִמּוֹ, plainly "his mother"; grandmother is the commentators' reading, not the Hebrew word, and the Pulpit preserves Bahr's objection to it. (3) מִפְלֶצֶת occurs only here and at 2 Chronicles 15:16; whether it denotes a dreadful image (Barnes, K&D, Pulpit) or an obscene one (the rabbins, Gill, Poole, JFB, Ellicott) cannot be settled from two occurrences, and we have not settled it. (4) גִּלֻּלִים is contemptuous by agreement and uncertain by derivation; the Pulpit gives both etymologies and decides neither. (5) v. 15 carries a Kethib/Qere variant, וְקָדְשׁוֹ against wᵉqodšê, which K&D resolves in favor of the Kethib; the English translations show no trace of it. (6) The LXX offers two variants in this unit, "twenty fourth" for "twentieth" in v. 9 and "Ana" for Maachah in v. 10, both recorded by Cambridge and neither adopted here. (7) The relation of v. 14 to 2 Chronicles 14:3-5 is a real tension between two canonical texts, and the four harmonizations we cite (Poole, Benson, Cambridge, K&D, Pulpit) are proposals, not data. (8) The Pulpit's spelling "Ass" for Asa in its quotations is the printed volume's typesetting and is preserved verbatim. All ⚙ material, including every thread body, the sola reading and the pullquote, is machine synthesis and fallible; the ✦ excerpts are contiguous verbatim substrings selected by anchor and copied by code, never retyped.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)