Table of Contents
Do evil in the sight of God
The phrase ‘do evil in the sight of God’ is used to express the apostasy of the individual king of Israel or king of Judah. God forbade the Israelites to worship idols – Exodus 20:1-5. However, the majority of the kings of Israel and Judah were idolatrous. The Bible frequently uses the phrase did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD to connect the bad kings to the sin of idolatry. These expressions mean the same:
- did evil in the sight of the LORD
- sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD,
- wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD.
- did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD
1. Kings of Israel who did evil in the sight of the Lord.
| NAME | REFERENCE |
| King Solomon | And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. 1 Kings 11:6 |
2. Kings of the Kingdom of Israel who did evil in the sight of the Lord
| NAME | REFERENCE |
| King Jeroboam I | For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin (1 Kings 16:19). Also 1 Kings 14:8-10 |
| King Nadab | And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin (1 Kings 15:26). |
| King Baasha | And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin (1 Kings 15:34). |
| King Elah | For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities (1 Kings 16:13). |
| King Zimri | For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin (1 Kings 16:19). |
| King Omri | But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him (1 Kings 16:25). |
| King Ahab | And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him (1Kings 16:30). Also 1 Kings 21:20 |
| Ahaziah of Israel | And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin (1 Kings 22:52): |
| Jehoram of Israel | And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made (2 Kings 3:2). |
| King Jehu | Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan (2 Kings 10:29). Also 2 Kings 10:31 |
| Jehoahaz of Israel | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom (2 Kings 13:2). |
| Jehoash of Israel | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: but he walked therein (2 Kings 13:11). |
| King Jeroboam II | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin (2 Kings 14:24). |
| King Zachariah | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin (2 Kings 15:9). |
| King Shallum | Though the expression ‘he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord’ was not said about Shallum, he was still guilty of the same. For he too was idolatrous. |
| King Menahem | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin (2 Kings 15:18). |
| King Pekahiah | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin (2 Kings 15:24). |
| King Pekah | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin (2 Kings 15:28). |
| King Hoshea | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him (2 Kings 17:2). |
3. Kings of the Kingdom of Judah who did evil in the sight of the Lord.
| NAME | REFERENCE |
| King Rehoboam | (During the reign of Rehoboam) And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done (1 Kings 14:22). |
| King Abijah | And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father (1 Kings 15:3). |
| Jehoram of Judah | And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD (2 Chronicles 21:6). |
| Ahaziah of Judah | Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction (2 Chronicles 22:2-4). |
| Others | A. Queen Athaliah, 2Ki 8:182, 2Ch 22:3-4 B. Joash of Judah, 2Ch 24:17-21 C. King Amaziah, 2Ch 25:14 Though the expression ‘he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord’ was not used for these people, they were still guilty of idolatry. |
| King Ahaz | Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father (2 Kings 16:2). |
| King Manasseh | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel (2 Kings 21:2). Also 2Ch 33:1-2, 6 |
| King Amon | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did (2 Kings 21:20). Also 2Ch 33:22 |
| Jehoahaz of Judah | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done (2 Kings 23:32). |
| King Jehoiakim | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done (2 Kings 23:37). Also 2Ch 36:5 |
| King Jehoiachin | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done (2 Kings 24:9). Also 2Ch 36:9 |
| King Zedekiah | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done (2 Kings 24:19). Also 2Ch 36:11-12 |