1 Kings 3:2

Christian Standard Bible ®

However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord’s name had not been built.

Parallel Translations

Update Bible Version
Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.

New Living Translation
At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the Lord had not yet been built.

English Revised Version
Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.

New Century Version
The Temple for the worship of the Lord had not yet been finished, so people were still sacrificing at altars in many places of worship.

New English Translation
Now the people were offering sacrifices at the high places, because in those days a temple had not yet been built to honor the Lord .

Webster's Bible Translation
Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built to the name of the LORD, until those days.

World English Bible
Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.

Amplified Bible
But [in the meantime] the people were still sacrificing [to God] on the high places (hilltops) [as the pagans did to their idols], for there was no [permanent] house yet built for the Name of the LORD.

English Standard Version
The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord .

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Netheles the puple offride in hiye places; for the temple was not bildid to the name of the Lord til in to that dai.

Berean Standard Bible
The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built.

Contemporary English Version
At that time, there was no temple for worshiping the Lord , and everyone offered sacrifices at the local shrines.

American Standard Version
Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Jehovah until those days.

Bible in Basic English
But all this time the people were making their offerings in the high places, because no house had been put up to the name of the Lord till those days.

Complete Jewish Bible
The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places, because no house had yet been built for the name of Adonai .

Darby Translation
Only, the people sacrificed on the high places; for there was no house built to the name of Jehovah, until those days.

Easy-to-Read Version
The Temple to honor the Lord had not yet been finished, so people were still making animal sacrifices on altars at the high places.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.

King James Version (1611)
Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built vnto the Name of the Lord vntill those dayes.

New Life Bible
The people were still giving their different gifts on altars, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

New Revised Standard
The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord .

Geneva Bible (1587)
Only the people sacrificed in the hie places, because there was no house buylt vnto the name of the Lord, vntill those dayes.

George Lamsa Translation
The people sacrificed only in high places, because there was no house yet built to the name of the LORD, until those days.

Good News Translation
A temple had not yet been built for the Lord , and so the people were still offering sacrifices at many different altars.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Save only, that the people were sacrificing in the high places, - because there had not been built a house unto the Name of Yahweh, until those days,

Douay-Rheims Bible
But yet the people sacrificed in the high places: for there was no temple built to the name of the Lord until that day.

Revised Standard Version
The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Onely the people sacrificed in hygh places, because there was no house built vnto the name of the Lorde vntill those dayes.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Nevertheless the people burnt incense on the high places, because a house had not yet been built to the Lord.

Hebrew Names Version
Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.

King James Version
Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord , until those days.

Lexham English Bible
But the people were sacrificing on the high places, for the house for the name of Yahweh had not yet been built in those days.

Literal Translation
Only, the people were sacrificing in high places, for a house for the name of Jehovah had not been built until those days.

Young's Literal Translation
Only, the people are sacrificing in high places, for there hath not been built a house for the name of Jehovah till those days.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But the people offred yet vpon the hye places: for as yet there was no house buylded vnto the name of the LORDE vnto that tyme.

New American Standard Bible
The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.

New King James Version
Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.

Legacy Standard Bible
The people were still sacrificing on the high places because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.

Contextual Overview

¹Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. Solomon brought her to the city of David until he finished building his palace, the Lord’s temple, and the wall surrounding Jerusalem. ²However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord’s name had not been built. ³Solomon loved the Lord by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ⁴The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the people: It was not right to offer sacrifices in any place but where the tabernacle and ark were; and wherever they were, whether on a high place or a plain, sacrifices might be lawfully offered, previously to building of the temple. The tabernacle was now at Gibeon - 2 Chronicles 1:3, which was therefore called the great high place; whither we find Solomon, without censure, repaired to sacrifice. 1 Kings 22:43, Leviticus 17:3-6, Leviticus 26:30, Deuteronomy 12:2-5, 2 Chronicles 33:17

was no: 1 Kings 5:3, 1 Chronicles 17:4-6, 1 Chronicles 28:3-6, Acts 7:47-49

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 9:12 - the high place 1 Kings 14:23 - built 2 Kings 18:4 - removed 2 Chronicles 15:17 - the high places

Cross-References

Psalms 58:4
They have venom like the venom of a snake,like the deaf cobra that stops up its ears,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Only the people sacrificed in high places,.... On the tops of their houses, on hills and mountains, and particularly at the high place in Gibeon, where the tabernacle was:

because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days; to which they were obliged to repair as afterwards, and there offer their sacrifices, as the Lord had commanded, Deuteronomy 12:5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The word “only” introduces a contrast. The writer means to say that there was one exception to the flourishing condition of things which he has been describing, namely, that “the people sacrificed in high-places.” (Compare the next verse.) The Law did not forbid “high-places” directly, but only by implication. It required the utter destruction of all the high-places which had been polluted by idolatrous rites Deuteronomy 12:2; and the injunction to offer sacrifices nowhere except at the door of the tabernacle Leviticus 17:3-5 was an indirect prohibition of them, or, at least, of the use which the Israelites made of them; but there was some real reason to question whether this was a command intended to come into force until the “place” was chosen “where the Lord would cause His name to dwell.” (See Deuteronomy 12:11, Deuteronomy 12:14.) The result was that high-places were used for the worship of Yahweh, from the time of the Judges downward Judges 6:25; Jdg 13:16; 1 Samuel 7:10; 1 Samuel 13:9; 1Sa 14:35; 1 Samuel 16:5; 1 Chronicles 21:26, with an entire unconsciousness of guilt on the part of those who used them. And God so far overlooked this ignorance that He accepted the worship thus offered Him, as appears from the vision vouchsafed to Solomon on this occasion. There were two reasons for the prohibition of high-places; first, the danger of the old idolatry creeping back if the old localities were retained for worship; and, secondly, the danger to the unity of the nation if there should be more than one legitimate religious center. The existence of the worship at high places did, in fact, facilitate the division of the kingdom.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 3:2. The people sacrificed in high places — Could there be any sin in this, or was it unlawful till after the temple was built? for prophets, judges, the kings which preceded Solomon, and Solomon himself, sacrificed on high places, such as Gibeon, Gilgal, Shiloh, Hebron, Kirjath-jearim, c. But after the temple was erected, it was sinful to offer sacrifices in any other place yet here it is introduced as being morally wrong, and it is introduced, 1 Kings 3:3, as being an exceptionable trait in the character of Solomon. The explanation appears to be this: as the ark and tabernacle were still in being, it was not right to offer sacrifices but where they were; and wherever they were, whether on a high place or a plain, there sacrifices might be lawfully offered, previously to the building of the temple. And the tabernacle was now at Gibeon, 2 Chronicles 1:3. Possibly the high places may be like those among the Hindoos, large raised-up terraces, on which they place their gods when they bathe, anoint, and worship them. Juggernaut and Krishnu have large terraces or high places, on which they are annually exhibited. But there was no idol in the above case.