The Meaning of 2 Kings 23:37 Explained

2 Kings 23:37

KJV: And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

YLT: and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers did.

Darby: And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.

ASV: And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And he did  [that which was] evil  in the sight  of the LORD,  according to all that his fathers  had done. 

What does 2 Kings 23:37 Mean?

Context Summary

2 Kings 23:26-37 - In The Hands Of Heathen Foes
Josiah's life ended in terrible disaster. He persisted in measuring himself in battle against the king of Egypt in a quarrel which was none of his, and thus met his death. The events of this paragraph are fully narrated in 2 Chronicles 35:1-27, and are corroborated by the Greek historian, Herodotus, and by the sculptures on this Pharaoh's tomb. The story of Jehoiakim should also be studied in the pages of Jeremiah- Jeremiah 22:1-30; Jeremiah 26:1-24; Jeremiah 36:1-32 -which cast a flood of light on these last days, when the sands in the time-glass of repentance were running out.
It is extraordinary that, notwithstanding the earnest expostulations of Jeremiah and others, and the awful example furnished by the fate of the ten tribes, the kings of Judah and their people should be so persistent in wrong-doing. But their hearts were fully set upon evil. In our own time the history of the drink traffic furnishes a parallel. Its evils stand confessed, as they touch individuals and nations, and yet neither individuals nor nations seem able to cast off the coils of this serpent. The Hebrew race had to pass through terrible fixes to become fitted for their mission to the world, and surely the present anguish of conflict is our parallel! [source]

Chapter Summary: 2 Kings 23

1  Josiah causes the book to be read in a solemn assembly
3  He renews the covenant of the Lord
4  He destroys idolatry
15  He burns dead men's bones upon the altar of Bethel, as was prophesied
21  He keeps a most solemn Passover
24  He puts away witches and all abomination
26  God's final wrath against Judah
29  Josiah, provoking Pharaoh Neco, is slain at Megiddo
31  Jehoahaz, succeeding him,
33  is imprisoned by Pharaoh Neco, who makes Jehoiakim king
36  Jehoiakim's wicked reign

What do the individual words in 2 Kings 23:37 mean?

And he did evil in the sight of Yahweh according to all that had done his fathers
וַיַּ֥עַשׂ הָרַ֖ע בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה כְּכֹ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־ עָשׂ֖וּ אֲבֹתָֽיו

וַיַּ֥עַשׂ  And  he  did 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: עָשָׂה 
Sense: to do, fashion, accomplish, make.
הָרַ֖ע  evil 
Parse: Article, Adjective, masculine singular
Root: רַע 
Sense: bad, evil.
בְּעֵינֵ֣י  in  the  sight 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, cdc
Root: עֹונָה 
Sense: eye.
יְהוָ֑ה  of  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
כְּכֹ֥ל  according  to  all 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
אֲשֶׁר־  that 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
עָשׂ֖וּ  had  done 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: עָשָׂה 
Sense: to do, fashion, accomplish, make.
אֲבֹתָֽיו  his  fathers 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine singular
Root: אָב  
Sense: father of an individual.