English Standard Version
2 Chronicles 15:3
3For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law,
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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;
- New Living Translation (NLT)For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Law to instruct them.
Context of 2 Chronicles 15:3
1The Spirit of God came upon 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, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.
Read all of 2 Chronicles 152 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 made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."
- Hosea 3:4For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.
- Jeremiah 10:10But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
- John 17:3And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:9For they themselves report concerning us the 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 know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
- 2 Chronicles 17:8and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram.
- Leviticus 10:11and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses."
- Deuteronomy 33:10They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law; they shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
- Nehemiah 8:9And 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 wept as they heard the words of the Law.
- Ezekiel 44:21No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
- Micah 3:11Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, "Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us."
- Malachi 2:7For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
- Matthew 2:4and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
- 1 Timothy 3:2Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
- Romans 2:12For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged 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
In the dictionaries
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
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Commentaries