For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

For they also built them altars, and statues, and groves upon every high hill and under every green tree:

And they also built for themselves high places, and columns, and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree;

For they also built for themselves high places, and images and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

And they build, also they, for themselves high places, and standing-pillars, and shrines, on every high height, and under every green tree;

For they made high places and upright stones and wood pillars on every high hill and under every green tree;

For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every leafy tree;

For they, too, built for themselves altars, and statues, and sacred groves, upon every high hill and under every leafy tree.

The words "they also" are emphatic. Not only did the Israelites make themselves high places 1-Kings 12:31; 1-Kings 13:32, but the people of Judah also. The "high places," which are said to have been "built," were probably small shrines or tabernacles hung with bright-colored tapestry Ezekiel 16:16, like the "sacred tent" of the Carthaginians.
The "images" were rather "pillars" (Genesis 28:18 note).
Groves - See 1-Kings 14:15, note. The "groves," it will be observed, were "built" on high hills and "under green trees."
Under every green tree - i. e., under all those remarkable trees which, standing singly about the land, were landmarks to their respective neighborhoods, and places of resort to travelers, who gladly rested under their shade Deuteronomy 12:2.

For they also built them high places,.... Which, though allowed of, or at least connived at, before the temple was built, and when the tabernacle was unfixed, yet afterwards unlawful; and the tribe of Judah could have no excuse for them, who had the temple in their tribe:
and images; contrary to the express command of God, Exodus 20:4,
and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree; that is, set up idols, and temples for idols, amidst groves of trees, and under all green trees; as was the custom of the Heathens, who sacrificed on the heights of hills and tops of mountains, as was particularly the custom of the Persians, as both Herodotus (m) and Xenophon (n) relate; and with the Getae, a people in Thrace, was a mountain they reckoned sacred (o).
(m) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 131. (n) Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 45. (o) Strabo Geograph. l. 7. p. 206.

They also (the Judaeans as well as the Israelites) built themselves bamoth, altars of high places (see at 1-Kings 3:3), monuments and Ashera-idols. מצּבות are not actual images of gods, but stones set up as memorials (Genesis 31:13; Genesis 35:20; Exodus 24:4), more especially stone monuments set up in commemoration of a divine revelation (Genesis 28:18, Genesis 28:22; Genesis 35:14). Like the bamoth, in connection with which they generally occur, they were originally dedicated to Jehovah; but even under the law they were forbidden, partly as places of divine worship of human invention which easily degenerated into idolatry, but chiefly because the Canaanites had erected such monuments to Baal by the side of his altars (Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5, etc.), whereby the worship of Jehovah was unconsciously identified with the worship of Baal, even when the mazzeboth were not at first erected to the Canaanitish Baal. As the מצּבות of the Canaanites were dedicated to Baal, so were the אשׁרים to Astarte, the female nature-deity of those tribes. אשׁרה, however, does not mean a grove (see the Comm. on Deuteronomy 16:21), but an idol of the Canaanitish nature-goddess, generally most likely a lofty wooden pillar, though sometimes perhaps a straight trunk of a tree, the branches and crown of which were lopped off, and which was planted upon heights and in other places by the side of the altars of Baal. The name אשׁרה was transferred from the idol to the goddess of nature (1-Kings 15:13; 1-Kings 18:19; 2-Kings 21:7, etc.), and was used of the image or column of the Phoenician Astarte (1-Kings 16:33; 2-Kings 13:6; 2-Kings 17:16, etc.), just as אשׁרות in Judges 3:7 alternates with עשׁתּרות in Judges 2:13. These idols the Israelites (? Judaeans - Tr.) appear to have also associated with the worship of Jehovah; for the external worship of Jehovah was still maintained in the temple, and was performed by Rehoboam himself with princely pomp (1-Kings 14:28). "On every high hill," etc.; see at Deuteronomy 12:2.

They also - Followed the example of the Israelites, although they were better instructed, and had the temple in their kingdom, and liberty of access to it, and the privilege of worshipping God in his own way, and the counsels, and sermons, and examples of the priests and Levites, and the dreadful example of Israel's horrid apostacy, to caution and terrify them. High places - Which was unlawful, and, now especially when the temple was built, and ready to receive them; unnecessary, and therefore expressed a greater contempt of God and his express command. Groves - Not only after the manner of the Heathens and Israelites, but against a direct and particular prohibition. Under every green tree - The people were universally corrupted: which is prodigious, all things considered, and is a clear evidence of the greatness and depth of the original corruption of man's nature.