1 Kings 22:46 Meaning and Explanation
“And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Summary verses in Kings can pass quickly under the eye, and this one carries more weight than its length suggests. It records the finishing of unfinished work. Asa had made a start; a remnant survived him; his son dealt with what remained. For anyone who has inherited a half-completed change at home or at work, that sequence is worth slowing down over.
A single line in the record of Jehoshaphat's reign notes that he cleared out the remaining shrine functionaries left over from his father Asa's day, continuing a reform his father had begun.
The Context of 1 Kings 22:46
Chapter 22 closes Ahab's story and then turns to Judah. Verses 41-43 introduce Jehoshaphat: thirty-five years old at his accession, twenty-five years reigning in Jerusalem, walking in the ways of Asa his father and doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD, with the note that the high places were not taken away. Verse 44 records his peace with the king of Israel, verse 45 points readers to the royal annals for the rest of his acts, and verse 46 supplies one specific reform before the chapter moves to Edom, shipping, and his death.
What Does 1 Kings 22:46 Mean?
Two words carry the sentence. 'Remnant' tells us this group was already reduced, a leftover from an earlier clearing. 'Remained in the days of his father Asa' fixes the timing, pointing back to a reform that had removed most of them and left some. The KJV term rendered 'sodomites' translates a Hebrew word for men attached to the service of Canaanite shrines, where worship and sexual practice were joined together. Jehoshaphat 'took out of the land' what was left. The verb describes removal from the territory itself, a public and administrative act by a king responsible for what his people were invited to call worship. The record states the action plainly and moves on.
Kings evaluates each ruler by whether he cleared the land of rival worship, and Jehoshaphat receives a mixed grade. Verse 43 praises his walk and then names what he left standing: the high places, where people kept offering and burning incense. Verse 46 shows him succeeding at one task his father had begun. Read together, the two verses give an honest portrait of reform, which usually advances in stages and rarely finishes in one reign. The comparison with the northern kingdom in the same chapter is pointed. Ahaziah takes his father's path and serves Baal (verses 52-53), while in Judah a son carries his father's better work further.
Scripture consistently treats the worship of God as bound up with how bodies and desires are honored, and the reforms in Judah act on that conviction. The law had forbidden bringing the wages of such shrine service into the house of the LORD (Deuteronomy 23:18), so removing these men from the land protected the sanctuary and the ordinary households of Judah alike. That protective instinct runs forward. Jesus drove traders from the temple courts because the house was to be a house of prayer, and Paul urged believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). Holiness and worship keep arriving together.
1 Kings 22:46 in the Original Language
qadesh (קָדֵשׁ), 'sodomites' -- a man consecrated to the service of a Canaanite shrine, where worship and sexual practice were combined. The word is built on the root for holiness, which sharpens the offense: a title of consecration had been attached to devotion given to another god.
Bible Verses Related to 1 Kings 22:46
“And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.”
- 1 Kings 15:12
“And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.”
- 1 Kings 22:43
“Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”
- Deuteronomy 23:18
“And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.”
- 2 Chronicles 17:6
Where 1 Kings 22:46 Echoes in Scripture
The verse points back over a generation to Asa, who took away the sodomites out of the land and removed the idols his fathers had made (1 Kings 15:12). Jehoshaphat's line is written as a deliberate sequel, using the same territory language. Together the two notices show a father and son working the same field at different depths. Scripture records both the beginning and the completion, which suggests that God notices the second effort as well as the first, and that inherited work counts as real obedience.
How to Apply 1 Kings 22:46 Today
Remnants are the hardest part of any change. The obvious things go early, and what survives is small enough to overlook and stubborn enough to return. A household clears out one habit and leaves the trace of it in a schedule; a church corrects a practice and keeps the assumption underneath. Jehoshaphat's example encourages us to name the leftover and act on it, especially when someone before us did the harder first round. It also encourages honesty about what we have left standing, since the same chapter records his high places alongside his reform.
Reflection & Prayer
What remnant of an old pattern is still living quietly in our days, and who might help us carry the work one step further? A prayer: Lord, You see the parts of my life I have cleaned up and the parts I have learned to walk around. Give me the resolve to finish what others began, the honesty to admit my own high places, and a love for You that outlasts the effort. Amen.