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Psalm 78:58
For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
56Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn’t keep his testimonies,
57but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow.
58For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
59When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel,
60so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men,
Notice
High places and engraved images make Israel’s rebellion concrete: their worship provoked the anger and jealousy of the God whose testimonies they had forsaken.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What do Israel’s high places and engraved images help you understand about God’s jealousy?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, might devotion to something else compete with your worship of God?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Deuteronomy 32:21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are …Both passages describe the people provoking God to anger and moving him to jealousy through devotion to what is not God.
Numbers 25:11“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among …Both passages name God’s jealousy and anger toward Israel, while Numbers describes Phinehas turning that wrath away.
1 Kings 14:22Judah did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had …Both passages describe God’s people provoking him to jealousy, with Kings naming Judah’s sins and the psalm naming high places and images.
Leviticus 26:30I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you.High places and idols draw God’s anger in the psalm and his threat of destruction and death in Leviticus.
Exodus 20:5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on …God’s jealousy connects the psalm’s account of false worship with Exodus’s command against bowing down to and serving other objects of worship.
Deuteronomy 4:24For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.Both passages name God’s jealousy, with the psalm describing its provocation and Deuteronomy pairing it with the image of devouring fire.
Deuteronomy 32:16They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.Both passages pair jealousy with anger, naming strange gods and engraved images as provocations against God.
1 Kings 12:31He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.High places appear in both passages: Kings records their establishment, while the psalm records God’s anger at their use.
1 Corinthians 10:22Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?Both passages speak of provoking the Lord to jealousy, with Corinthians questioning the strength of those who would do so.
Ezekiel 16:24“that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.Both passages mention high or lofty places associated with the people, though Ezekiel’s supplied verse does not mention God’s jealousy.
1 Kings 11:7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children …High places connect these passages: Solomon builds one for named foreign gods, and the psalm describes such places provoking God’s anger.
Deuteronomy 12:2You 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 …Both passages concern places of false worship, with Deuteronomy commanding their destruction and the psalm describing God’s anger over Israel’s high places.
Where this verse fits
Sermon or Bible study notes. praise and worship.
One step
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Encouragement
Worship matters to God. Israel’s high places and engraved images met with his anger; he does not treat devotion to other gods as harmless.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).