2 Chronicles 15:3

2 Chronicles 15:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
• New International Version (NIV)For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law,
• New King James Version (NKJV)For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;

Context of 2 Chronicles 15:3

1Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, 2and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him, as your soul’s first necessity], He will let you find Him; but if you abandon (turn away from) Him, He will abandon (turn away from) you. Now for a long time Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest, and without [God’s] law. 4But when they were in their trouble and distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and [in desperation earnestly] sought Him, and He let them find Him. 5In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, for great suffering came on all the inhabitants of the lands.

2 Chronicles 15:3 word by word

וְיָמִ֥ים רַבִּ֖ים לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לְלֹ֣א׀ אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֱמֶ֗ת וּלְלֹ֛א כֹּהֵ֥ן מוֹרֶ֖ה וּלְלֹ֥א תוֹרָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Now for a longרַבrab · manyH7227
• seasonיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
• withoutלֹאlô' lô' lôh · notH3808
• the trueאֱמֶת'emeth · truth: trueH571
• Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• and without a teachingיָרָהyârâh yârâ' · to showH3384
• priestכֹּהֵןkôhên · priestH3548
• and without lawתּוֹרָהtôrâh tôrâh · instructionH8451

Cross-references for 2 Chronicles 15:3

• 1 Kings 12:28So the king took counsel [and followed bad advice] and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “It is too much for you to go [all the way] up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
• Hosea 3:4For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or [idolatrous] pillar, and without ephod or teraphim (household idols).
• Jeremiah 10:10But the Lord is the true God and the God who is Truth; He is the living God and the everlasting King. The earth quakes and shudders at His wrath, And the nations are not able to endure His indignation.
• John 17:3Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true [supreme and sovereign] God, and [in the same manner know] Jesus [as the] Christ whom You have sent.
• 1 Thessalonians 1:9For they themselves report about us, telling what kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
• 1 John 5:20And we [have seen and] know [by personal experience] that the Son of God has [actually] come [to this world], and has given us understanding and insight so that we may [progressively and personally] know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
• 2 Chronicles 17:8and with them were the Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with them the priests Elishama and Jehoram.
• Leviticus 10:11and you are to teach the Israelites all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”
• Deuteronomy 33:10The priests shall teach Your ordinances (judgments) to Jacob, And Your law to Israel. They shall put incense before You, And whole burnt offerings on Your altar.
• Nehemiah 8:9Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the Law.
• Ezekiel 44:21Nor shall any priest drink wine when he enters the inner courtyard.
• Micah 3:11Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, Her priests teach for a fee, And her prophets foretell for money; Yet they lean on the Lord, saying, “Is not the Lord among us? No tragedy or distress will come on us.”
• Malachi 2:7For the lips of the priest should guard and preserve knowledge [of My law], and the people should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
• Matthew 2:4So he called together all the chief priests and scribes of the people and [anxiously] asked them where the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) was to be born.
• 1 Timothy 3:2Now an overseer must be blameless and beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
• Romans 2:12For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without [regard to] the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged and condemned by the Law.

Commentaries on 2 Chronicles 15:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Now 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…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3“Israel” here is used generally for the whole people of God; and the reference is especially to the many apostasies in the days of the Judges, which were followed by repentance and deliverance.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-6The dark times, caused by not knowing God (see Hosea 3:4–5), likely refer to the period of the judges.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3-63-6. 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…Read the comment

Topics related to 2 Chronicles 15:3

• Backsliders
• Courage
• Instruction
• Minister, Christian
• Prayer
• Preaching
• Repentance
• Revivals
• Simeon
• Word of God

In the dictionaries

• God
• Israel
• Israel, Israelites
• Jacob, Israel
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Covenant
• Renew
• Azariah
• Catechist; Catechumen
• Famine

Commentaries on 2 Chronicles 15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings