וַיַּצִּ֧בוּ לָהֶ֛ם מַצֵּב֖וֹת וַאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים עַ֚ל כָּל גִּבְעָ֣ה גְבֹהָ֔ה וְתַ֖חַת כָּל עֵ֥ץ רַעֲנָֽן
and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;
World English Bible · Public Domain
2 Kings 17:10
Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) 2 Kings 17:10 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
English Translation
and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;
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Compare translations 3
The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.
Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.
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World English Bible Public Domain
and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;
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King James Version Public Domain
And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
And they set up for themselves pillars and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree.
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Show all 18 translations
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
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World English Bible Public Domain
and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;
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Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
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Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
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King James Version Public Domain
And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
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American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
and they set them up pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green tree;
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Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
and they set them up pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green tree:
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Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
And had made them images and groues vpon euery hie hill, and vnder euery greene tree,
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Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
And they made them statues and groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree:
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Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
and set up for them standing-pillars and shrines on every high height, and under every green tree,
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Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
and set up standing-pillars and Asherim for themselves on every high height, and under every green tree,
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Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
They also set up stone pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
And they set up for themselves pillars and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree.
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Darby Bible Public Domain
And they set them up columns and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree;
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World Messianic Bible Public Domain
and they set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree;
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Webster's Bible Public Domain
And they set up for themselves images and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree:
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Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
They set up pagan stone pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
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Bible in Basic English Public Domain
They put up pillars of stone and wood on every high hill and under every green tree:
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JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
and they set them up pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every leafy tree;
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
Word by word
More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →
Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →
רַעֲנָֽן
raʻănân
H7488
“luxuriant”
Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- Appears 20× in the Hebrew Bible
- First appears at Deuteronomy 12:2
- Part of Speech
- Adjective
- Type
- Adjective
- Gender
- Masculine
- Number
- Singular
- State
- Absolute
Full BDB Definition
(Palel) to be or grow luxuriant or fresh or green (verb)
- luxuriant, fresh (adjective)
- וַיַּצִּ֧בוּ nâtsab H5324 “and · to stand” Conjunction + Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
- מַצֵּב֖וֹת matstsêbâh H4676 “pillars” Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute
- וַאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים ʼăshêrâh H842 “and · Asherah” Conjunction + Noun, Proper
- עַ֚ל ʻal H5921 “upon” Preposition
- כָּל kôl H3605 “all of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
- גִּבְעָ֣ה gibʻâh H1389 “hill” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
- גְבֹהָ֔ה gâbôahh H1364 “high” Adjective, Adjective, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
- וְתַ֖חַת tachath H8478 “and · under” Conjunction + Preposition
- כָּל kôl H3605 “all of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
- עֵ֥ץ ʻêts H6086 “tree” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- רַעֲנָֽן raʻănân H7488 “luxuriant” Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
About this verse
These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
- 12
- words
- 10
- distinct lemmas
- Historical
- section
Notable vocabulary
The rarest word here is רַעֲנָֽן luxuriant H7488 — appearing just 20 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.
Shared distinctive vocabulary
רַעֲנָֽן luxuriant H7488 occurs in 20 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:
Grammatical profile
- 1 verb
- 6 nouns
- 2 adjectives
- 3 prepositions
Verb forms
- וַיַּצִּ֧בוּ Hiphil · Sequential Imperfect
Repetition
A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:
- כָּל all H3605 ×2
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 17 words from the Hebrew and 38 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
In the original languages it is 12 Hebrew tokens and 15 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.
Cross-references
8Topical passages linked to 2 Kings 17:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
- 1 Kings 14:23 For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;
- Micah 5:14 I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; And I will destroy your cities.
- Exodus 34:13 but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim;
- 2 Kings 16:4 He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
- Deuteronomy 12:2–3 You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree:
- Deuteronomy 16:21 You shall not plant you an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you shall make you.
- Isaiah 57:5 you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
- Leviticus 26:1 "'You shall make for yourselves no idols, neither shall you raise up an engraved image or a pillar, neither shall you place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am Yahweh your God.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 38 words vs World English Bible 17. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
καί στηλόω ἑαυτοῦ στήλη καί ἄλσος ἐπί πᾶς βουνός ὑψηλός καί ὑποκάτω πᾶς ξύλον ἀλσώδης
and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. And they made for themselves pillars and groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree.
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)
The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.
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Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
וַאֲקִימוּ לְהוֹן קָמָן וַאֲשֵׁירִין עַל כָּל רָמָא מְנַטְלָא וּתְחוֹת כָּל אִילָן עַבּוּף:
(no public-domain English translation for this verse)
Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Lesson kit
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
2 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 12 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is raʻănân (“luxuriant”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Discussion questions
- The word raʻănân carries the sense “luxuriant.” How does it shape the verse?
- How does Deuteronomy 12:2, which shares the word «luxuriant», read alongside this verse?
- What does the repetition of “all” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
- The Septuagint runs longer here than the Hebrew. What might account for the difference?
- These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
- «וַיַּצִּ֧בוּ» is a Hiphil Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
- Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?
Things to notice
- This verse counts 12 Hebrew ↔ 15 Greek words.
- These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
- “all” occurs 2× in this single verse.
- 10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 12 words in this verse.
Commentary
Notes on 2 Kings 17:10 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Trapp's Complete Commentary
John Trapp
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Daniel D. Whedon
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.