2 Chronicles 15:3

Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
long	רַבִּ֖ים ra.Bim	H7227	abundant (in quantity · adjective, masculine plural absolute
season	וְיָמִ֥ים ve.ya.Mim	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Israel	לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל le.Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · preposition + proper noun, a place name
without	לְלֹ֣א le.Lo'	H3808	not (the simple or abs. negation) · preposition + negative particle
true	אֱמֶ֗ת 'e.Met	H571	stability · noun, common feminine singular absolute
God	אֱלֹהֵ֣י 'e.lo.Hei	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
teaching	מוֹרֶ֖ה mo.Reh	H3384	properly · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
priest	כֹּהֵ֥ן ko.Hen	H3548	literally one officiating · noun, common masculine singular absolute
law	תוֹרָֽה to.Rah	H8451	a precept or statute · noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Nehemiah 8:9 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This…
Leviticus 10:11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.
2 Chronicles 17:8-9 And with them he sent Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and To…
Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not…
Ezekiel 44:21-23 Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
Hosea 3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and wi…
Micah 3:11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean up…
Malachi 2:7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 15:1-7

It was a great happiness to Israel that they had prophets among them; yet, while they were thus blessed, they were strangely addicted to idolatry, whereas, when the spirit of prophecy had ceased under the second temple, and the canon of the Old Temple was completed (which was constantly read in their synagogues), they were pure from idolatry; for the scriptures are of all other the most sure word of prophecy, and most effectual, and the church could not be so easily imposed upon by a counterfeit Bible as by a counterfeit prophet. Here was a prophet sent to Asa and his army, when they returned victorious from the war with the Ethiopians, not to compliment them and congratulate them on their s…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 15:3

Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, &c.--Some think that Azariah was referring to the sad and disastrous condition to which superstition and idolatry had brought the neighboring kingdom of Israel. His words should rather be taken in a wider sense, for it seems manifest that the prophet had his eye upon many periods in the national history, when the people were in the state described--a state of spiritual destitution and ignorance--and exhibited its natural result as widespread anarchy, mutual dissension among the tribes, and general suffering (Jdg 9:23; Jdg 12:4; Jdg 20:21; Ch2 13:17). These calamities God permitted to befall them as the punishment of their apostasy.…

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Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 15:3

Now for a long season Israel - "Israel hath followed Jeroboam, and they have not worshipped the true God. They have burnt incense to their golden calves; their priestlings [כומריא cumeraiya, their black, sooty sacrificers] have burnt perfumes with a strange worship, and have not exercised themselves in the law." - Targum. These priests could not teach, because they had not learnt; and as they had abandoned the law of the Lord, consequently they had no proper matter for instruction. There is a great diversity of opinions concerning the meaning of this text. Some consider it a prophecy relative to the future state of this people, and the final destruction of the Jews as to their political exis…

The Church Fathers

The passage shows the impiety of the ten tribes: "For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law; but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them." Do not imitate, the Scripture says, the impiety of your brothers. They do not preach the true God but pursue false idols. For this reason they have been deprived of the priests and the teachers, who could teach them the law of God. Experience, therefore, becomes our guide in showing the damages of impiety. For after being afflicted by any kind of calamity they implore now the help of God, giving themselves entirely to the ineffable goodness of the Lord.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, QUESTION 1, ON 2 CHRONICLES

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Priest — The Heb. kohen, Gr. hierus, Lat. sacerdos, always denote one who offers sacrifices. At first every man was his own priest, and presented his own sacrifices before God. Afterwards that office devolved…
Backsliders · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Courage · Asa — Asa
Preaching · .ByAzariah — .ByAzariah
Revivals · .Asa — .Asa
Simeon · the Pas — the Pas

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

2 Chronicles 15:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 15:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 15:3

Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 15:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

2 Chronicles 15:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 15:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 15:3

Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 15:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on 2 Chronicles 15:3

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Chronicles 15:1-4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Chronicles 15:3-6

Rashi on 2 Chronicles 15:3