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

1God's Spirit came to Oded's son Azariah. 2Azariah went to meet King Asa. He said to him, ‘Listen to me Asa and all you people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Lord will be with you while you are faithful to him. If you ask him for help, he will answer you. But if you turn away from him, he will turn away from you. For a long time, the Israelites did not serve the true God. They did not have any priests to teach them what was right. They did not know God's law. 4But when they were in trouble, they turned to the Lord, Israel's God. They asked him to help them and he answered them. 5At that time it was not safe to travel very far. There was too much trouble among the people of other countries.

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 King Jeroboam talked to his advisors. He used gold to make images of two young cows. He said to the people, ‘It is too difficult for you to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, as you have done before. So I have made these gold cows for you instead. Look at them, Israelite people! These are your gods that rescued you and brought you out from Egypt.’
• Hosea 3:4In the same way, the Israelites will have to live for many days without a king or any other leader. They will not be able to make sacrifices. They will not have their pillars, their ephods or their idols to help them.
• Jeremiah 10:10But the Lord is the only true God. He is the God who is alive. He is the King who rules for ever. When he is angry, the earth shakes. None of the nations can stop his anger.
• John 17:3What does it mean for people to live with you for ever? It means that they know you, the one who is the only true God. They also know me, Jesus Christ, the one that you have sent.
• 1 Thessalonians 1:9Those people themselves speak about how you accepted us. They tell us how you stopped worshipping false gods. They know that you now serve the true God who always lives.
• 1 John 5:20We also know that the Son of God has come into the world. He has helped us to understand what is true. As a result, we know the only true God. We live together with this true God, because we belong to his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God. He is the one who gives us life with God for ever.
• 2 Chronicles 17:8He sent these Levites to go with them: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah. He also sent the priests, Elishama and Jehoram.
• Leviticus 10:11You must teach Israel's people all the rules that I, the Lord, gave to them by Moses.’
• Deuteronomy 33:10They teach your rules and your laws to Jacob's descendants, the Israelites. They offer incense to you, as a sweet smell. They burn offerings on your altar.
• Nehemiah 8:9Then Ezra (the priest who studied God's Law), Nehemiah (the ruler) and the Levites who were teaching the people said to all the people, ‘Do not cry or weep. Today is a special holy day for the Lord your God.’ They said this because the people were weeping. The words of the Law had made them sad.
• Ezekiel 44:21When a priest goes into the inside yard of the temple, he must not drink anywine.
• Micah 3:11You are the city's rulers, but you accept bribes. Then you do not judge people in a fair way. You priests teach people only if they pay you. You prophets speak about what will happen in future times. But you only speak if you receive money. But you still say that you trust the Lord. You say, ‘The Lord is with us, so nothing bad will happen to us.’
• Malachi 2:7Priests should help people to know the truth about God. People should ask the priests to teach them, because the Lord Almighty has chosen priests to speak his message.
• Matthew 2:4Then Herod asked all the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law to meet with him. He asked them, ‘Where will God's Messiah be born?’
• 1 Timothy 3:2For that reason, a leader of the church must live a life that everyone knows is good. He must be the husband of one wife. He must think seriously about how he lives and he must control himself well. He must be someone that people respect. He must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must be a good teacher.
• Romans 2:12The Gentiles do not have God's Law that he gave to Moses. If Gentiles do wrong things, God will punish them. But he will not use his Law when he judges the Gentiles. But the Jews do have God's Law. So, if Jews do wrong things, God will use his Law to judge them. The Law will show that they have done wrong things.

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