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.
• 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;
• 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 on Azariah son of Oded. 2He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when 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, without a priest to teach and without the law. 4But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. 5In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil.

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 12:28After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
• Hosea 3:4For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.
• Jeremiah 10:10But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
• John 17:3Now 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 what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
• 1 John 5:20We know also 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 by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
• 2 Chronicles 17:8With them were certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah—and the priests Elishama and Jehoram.
• Leviticus 10:11and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses.”
• Deuteronomy 33:10He teaches your precepts to Jacob and your law to Israel. He offers incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
• Nehemiah 8:9Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
• Ezekiel 44:21No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court.
• Micah 3:11Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.”
• Malachi 2:7“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.
• Matthew 2:4When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.
• 1 Timothy 3:2Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
• Romans 2:12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin 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

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

In the dictionaries

• God
• Israel
• Covenant
• Renew
• Azariah
• Catechist; Catechumen
• Famine
• Oded
• Priest

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