Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Kings 14:24 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 24. 24And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The KJV renders a disputed Hebrew cultic-personnel term. The verse belongs to Judah's cultic evaluation.
Judah is evaluated, not only Israel
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Kings 14:21–24. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Kings 14:21–24
Read 1 Kings 14:24 with 14:21–24. The selected wording supplies one closing in the thought unit with its stated result or transition; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Introduces Rehoboam's seventeen-year Jerusalem reign and names his Ammonite mother Naamah; uses the KJV's historically loaded term for male cult personnel within a broader cultic indictment.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Rehoboam and Judah receive a negative evaluation,” 1 Kings 14:24 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 14:17–20 establishes this prior movement: Reports the child dying when his mother crosses Tirzah's threshold; closes Jeroboam's twenty-two-year reign with Nadab's succession. 1 Kings 14:21–24 responds to the pressure, request, or claim already established; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 1 Kings 14:21–24 together
Why these verses belong together: Rehoboam and Judah receive a negative evaluation is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 14:21–14:24.
Verse 21. 21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
Verse 22. 22 And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.
Verse 23. 23 For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
Verse 24. 24 And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
Follow the Context
- Introduces Rehoboam's seventeen-year Jerusalem reign and names his Ammonite mother Naamah
- Uses the KJV's historically loaded term for male cult personnel within a broader cultic indictment
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“sodomites”
In plain language: The KJV renders a disputed Hebrew cultic-personnel term.
The verse belongs to Judah's cultic evaluation.
Why it matters: It must not become an anti-LGBTQ slur.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Kings 14:24 does not permit the wording “And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The unit does not authorize attacking a living religious community, ethnic or gender stigma, self-harm, forced conversion, or killing opponents in order to reproduce an ancient royal-prophetic conflict.
What Remains True
Discernment serves justice when it hears vulnerable people carefully and remains open to later moral evaluation. This unit tests that truth through introduces Rehoboam's seventeen-year Jerusalem reign and names his Ammonite mother Naamah; uses the KJV's historically loaded term for male cult personnel within a broader cultic indictment. In 1 Kings 14:24, the concrete line “And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Teach It Back
In 70–220 words, explain 1 Kings 14:24's role in 14:21–24. Paraphrase “And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Kings 14:21–24 — Rehoboam and Judah receive a negative evaluationSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The received Hebrew narrative and its KJV presentation are clear enough to follow this movement, while precise source history, chronology, motives, textual development, and external correlation require graded confidence rather than invented certainty.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Kings 14:21–24, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 14:21–24
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 612–614, translation and translator notes for 14:21–24
Open source ↗