1 Kings 12:31
New International Version
Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.

New Living Translation
Jeroboam also erected buildings at the pagan shrines and ordained priests from the common people—those who were not from the priestly tribe of Levi.

English Standard Version
He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.

Berean Standard Bible
Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.

King James Bible
And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

New King James Version
He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

New American Standard Bible
And he made houses on high places, and appointed priests from all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

NASB 1995
And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

NASB 1977
And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

Legacy Standard Bible
And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

Amplified Bible
And Jeroboam also made houses on high places, and he made priests from all people who were not of the sons (descendants) of Levi.

Christian Standard Bible
Jeroboam also made shrines on the high places and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and set up priests from every class of people who were not Levites.

American Standard Version
And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he made a house of idols, and he made Priests of the people, those who were not of the sons of Levi.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he made houses on the high places, and made priests of any part of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Contemporary English Version
Jeroboam built small places of worship at the shrines and appointed men who were not from the tribe of Levi to serve as priests.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he made temples in the high places, and priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

English Revised Version
And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Jeroboam built worship sites on hilltops. He appointed men who were not descended from Levi to be priests.

Good News Translation
Jeroboam also built places of worship on hilltops, and he chose priests from families who were not of the tribe of Levi.

International Standard Version
Jeroboam built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi.

Literal Standard Version
And he makes the house of high places, and makes priests from the extremities of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi;

Majority Standard Bible
Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.

New American Bible
He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the common people who were not Levites.

NET Bible
He built temples on the high places and appointed as priests people who were not Levites.

New Revised Standard Version
He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not Levites.

New Heart English Bible
And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

World English Bible
He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Young's Literal Translation
And he maketh the house of high places, and maketh priests of the extremities of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jeroboam's Idolatry
30And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves. 31Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites. 32And Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up, and he installed priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up.…

Cross References
1 Kings 13:32
for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass."

1 Kings 13:33
Even after these events, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil ways, but again he appointed priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained anyone who desired to be a priest of the high places.

2 Kings 17:29
Nevertheless, the people of each nation continued to make their own gods in the cities where they had settled, and they set them up in the shrines that the people of Samaria had made on the high places.

2 Kings 17:32
So the new residents worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed for themselves priests of all sorts to serve in the shrines of the high places.

2 Chronicles 11:15
And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.

2 Chronicles 13:9
But did you not drive out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites? And did you not make priests for yourselves as do the peoples of other lands? Now whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of things that are not gods.

Amos 7:10
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words,


Treasury of Scripture

And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

an house

1 Kings 13:24,32
And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase…

Deuteronomy 24:15
At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

Ezekiel 16:25
Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.

priests

1 Kings 13:33
After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

Numbers 3:10
And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

2 Kings 17:32
So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

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Appointed Built Classes Extremities High House Houses Jeroboam Levi Maketh Places Priests Shrines Sorts Worship
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Appointed Built Classes Extremities High House Houses Jeroboam Levi Maketh Places Priests Shrines Sorts Worship
1 Kings 12
1. The Israelites, assembled at Shechem to crown Rehoboam,
4. by Jeroboam make a suit of relaxation unto him
6. Rehoboam, refusing the old men's counsel, answers them roughly
16. Ten tribes revolting, kill Adoram, and make Rehoboam flee
21. Rehoboam, raising an army, is forbidden by Shemaiah
25. Jeroboam strengthens himself by cities
26. and by idolatry of the two calves














(31, 32) Of the lowest of the people.--This is universally recognised as a mistranslation, though a natural one, of the original, "the ends of the people." The sense is "from the whole mass of the people," without care for Levitical descent--the Levites having (see 2Chronicles 11:13-14) generally returned into the kingdom of Judah on the establishment of this idolatry. It is hardly likely that the king would have lacked because at Dan an unauthorised Levitical priesthood was (as has been said) forthcoming.

Verse 31. - And he made an house of high places [See on 1 Kings 3:2, and cf. 2 Kings 17:29. It is often assumed (Keil, Rawlinson, al. after Josephus) that Jeroboam built two temples for his cherubim, and the statement of the text, that he built one, is explained on the ground that the historian contrasts the "house of high places" with the "house of the Lord." Ewald, too, after 2 Kings 17:29, 32, understands the words as plural. But is it not more probable that a chapel or sanctuary already existed at Dan, where an irregular priesthood had ministered for more than four hundred years? This verse would then refer exclusively to Jeroboam's procedure at Bethel (see next verse). There he built a temple and ordained a number of priests, but Dan had both already. We know that the Danite priests carried on the calf worship to the time of the captivity (Judges 18:30). This "house of high places" has grown in Ewald's pages into "a splendid temple in Canaanite style"], and made priests of the lowest of the people [Heb. מִקְצות "from the ends," i.e., from all classes, ex universe populo (Gesen.), and not, as the writer explains presently, from the tribe of Levi alone. Genesis 19:4, Judges 18:20, Ezekiel 33:2, prove this to be the correct interpretation of the word. Rawlinson, who remarks that "Jeroboam could have no motive for specially selecting persons of low condition," does not thereby dispose of the A.V. rendering, for the historian might mean that some of Jeroboam's priests were of the lowest stamp, because he could find no others, or because he was so little scrupulous as to take them. "Leaden priests are well fitted to golden deities" (Hall)], which were not of the sons of Levi. [Jeroboam would doubtless have been only too glad to have retained the services of the Levitical priests, but they went over in a body to Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:13). The statement of ver. 14, that, "Jeroboam and his sons" had "cast them out," suggests that they had refused to take part in his new cult and that thereupon he banished them, and, no doubt, confiscated their possessions. The idea of Stanley, that "following the precedent of the deposition of Abiathar by Solomon, he removed from their places the whole of the sacerdotal order," is a wild conjecture for which Scripture affords not the slightest warrant.]

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Jeroboam also built
וַיַּ֖עַשׂ (way·ya·‘aś)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

shrines
בֵּ֣ית (bêṯ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

on the high places
בָּמ֑וֹת (bā·mō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 1116: An elevation

and appointed
וַיַּ֤עַשׂ (way·ya·‘aś)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

from every class
מִקְצ֣וֹת (miq·ṣō·wṯ)
Preposition-m | Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 7098: A termination

of people
הָעָ֔ם (hā·‘ām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

priests
כֹּֽהֲנִים֙ (kō·hă·nîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 3548: Priest

who
אֲשֶׁ֥ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

were
הָי֖וּ (hā·yū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

not
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

Levites.
מִבְּנֵ֥י (mib·bə·nê)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son


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OT History: 1 Kings 12:31 He made houses of high places (1Ki iKi i Ki 1 Kg 1kg)
1 Kings 12:30
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