2 Chronicles 15 · Verse 3

2 Chronicles 15:3

Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
2 Chronicles 15:3, King James Version

2 Chronicles 15:3 in other translations

BSBFor many years Israel has been without the true God, without a priest to instruct them, and without the law.
WEBNow for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law.
ASVNow for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law:
YLTand many days are to Israel without a true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law,
DARBYNow for a long while Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law;
BBENow for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law;
WebsterNow for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

What does 2 Chronicles 15:3 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 15:3-6
3-6. 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 ignorance--and exhibited its natural result as widespread anarchy, mutual dissension among the tribes, and general suffering (Jud 9:23; 12:4; 20:21; 2Ch 13:17). These calamities God permitted to befall them as the punishment of their apostasy. Azariah's object in these remarks was to establish the truth of his counsel (2Ch 15:2), threatening, in case of neglecting it by describing the uniform course of the divine procedure towards Israel, as shown in all periods of their history. Then after this appeal to national experience, he concluded with an earnest exhortation to the king to prosecute the work of reformation so well begun [2Ch 15:7].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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 existence: others consider it as referring to the state of the people under the reigns of Rehoboam and Abijah, which were happily changed under that of Asa; and this appears to me to be the most natural sense of the words.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

2 Chronicles 15:3 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְיָמִ֥יםve.ya.Mimand daysH3117
רַבִּ֖יםra.BimmanyH7227
לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑לle.Yis.ra.'El[belonged] to IsraelH3478
לְלֹ֣א\׀le.Lo'to notH3808
אֱלֹהֵ֣י'e.lo.Hei[the] God ofH430
אֱמֶ֗ת'e.MettruthH571
וּלְלֹ֛אu.le.Lo'and to notH3808
כֹּהֵ֥ןko.Hena priestH3548
מוֹרֶ֖הmo.Reh[who] teachesH3384
וּלְלֹ֥אu.le.Lo'and to notH3808
תוֹרָֽה\׃to.Rah[the] lawH8451

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Chronicles 15:3

  • 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 day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.

  • 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 Tobijah, and Tob–adonijah, Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, priests. And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.

  • 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 be able to abide his indignation.

  • 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 upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.

  • 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.

  • 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 without an ephod, and without teraphim:

  • Ezekiel 44:21-23

    Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before. And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

  • Matthew 2:4-5

    And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

  • 1 Kings 12:28-33

    Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Beth–el, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. …

  • Romans 2:12

    For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

  • Deuteronomy 33:10

    They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
a long.
1Ki 12:28-33; Ho 3:4
true God.
Jer 10:10; Joh 17:3; 1Th 1:9; 1Jo 5:20
a teaching.
17:8,9; Le 10:11; De 33:10; Ne 8:9; Eze 44:21-23; Mic 3:11; Mal 2:7
Mt 2:4,5; 1Ti 3:2
without law.
Ro 2:12; 7:8,9; 1Co 9:21

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 2 Chronicles 15:2

    And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

  • 2 Chronicles 15:3

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

  • 2 Chronicles 15:4

    But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

Read all of 2 Chronicles 15

2 Chronicles 15:3 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Muchos días ha estado Israel sin verdadero Dios y sin sacerdote, y sin enseñador y sin ley:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Pendant bien des jours il n’y eut pour Israël ni vrai Dieu, ni sacrificateur pour enseigner, ni loi;
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und Israel war viele Tage ohne wahren Gott und ohne lehrenden Priester und ohne Gesetz;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Transibant autem multi dies in Israël absque Deo vero, et absque sacerdote doctore, et absque lege.