And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:

And he set the graven image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Jehovah said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever;

He set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the temple of the Lord: concerning which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son: In this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever.

And he setteth the graven image of the shrine that he made in the house of which Jehovah said unto David and unto Solomon his son, 'In this house, and in Jerusalem, that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I put My name, to the age;

Also, he set up an idol, of the sacred grove that he had made, in the temple of the Lord, about which the Lord said to David, and to his son Solomon: "In this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name forever.

A graven image of the grove - Rather, "the carved work of the Asherah." This Asherah which Manasseh placed in the very temple itself, from where it was afterward taken by Josiah to be destroyed 2-Kings 23:6. Such a profanation was beyond anything that had been done either by Athaliah 2-Kings 11:18, or by Ahaz 2-Kings 16:14-18; 2-Chronicles 29:5-7.

He set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house - Every one may see that Asherah here must signify an idol, and not a grove; and for the proof of this see the observations at the end of the chapter, 2-Kings 21:26 (note).

Which was either an image that had been placed in a grove planted by him, and now removed into the house or temple of the Lord; or, as some think, this was a representation of a grove, a carved grove of gold or silver, in the midst of which an image was placed in the temple; though what Selden observes (b), seems best of all, that this was an image of Asherah, as in the original text; that is, of Astarte or Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, 1-Kings 11:5, the same the Phoenicians are said to call Astroarche, and affirm it to be the moon (c): in 2-Chronicles 33:7 it is called a carved image the idol he had made; and an Arabic writer (d) says, it had four faces, which seems to be a figure of the cherubim; but, according to Suidas (e), it was the statue of Jupiter, who also says it had four faces:
of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son: that is, of which house or temple:
in this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever; see 1-Kings 8:29; see Gill on 2-Kings 21:3.
(b) De Dis Syris, Syntagm. 2. c. 2. p. 233. (c) Herodian. l. 5. c. 15. (d) Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 66. (e) In voce

And he set a graven image--The placing of the Asherah within the precincts of the temple, which was dedicated to the worship of the true God, is dwelt upon as the most aggravated outrage of the royal idolater.

Yea, he even placed the image of Asherah in the temple, i.e., in the Holy Place. In the description of his idolatry, which advances gradatim, this is introduced as the very worst crime. According to the express declaration of the Lord to David (2-Samuel 7:13) and Solomon (1-Kings 9:3 compared with 2-Kings 8:16), the temple was to serve as the dwelling-place of His name.

An image - The image of that Baal which was worshipped in the grove.