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Friday, July 25th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

The NET Bible®

2 Chronicles 15:3

For a long time Israel had no true God, or priest to instruct them, or law.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Backsliders;   Courage;   Instruction;   Minister, Christian;   Prayer;   Preaching;   Repentance;   Revivals;   Simeon;   Word of God;   Thompson Chain Reference - Azariah;   Destitution, Spiritual;   Poverty, Spiritual;   Poverty-Riches;   Spiritual;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Artaxerxes;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Priest, Priesthood;   Teach, Teacher;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Preaching;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Azariah;   Education;   Priest;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Azariah;   Truth;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Azariah;   Chronicles, I;   Priests and Levites;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Oded;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Priest;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Azariah;   Catechist;   Famine;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Asa;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Bat Ḳol;   Huna;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For many years Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without instruction,
Hebrew Names Version
Now for a long season Yisra'el was without the true God, and without a teaching Kohen, and without law:
King James Version
Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
English Standard Version
For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law,
New Century Version
For a long time Israel was without the true God and without a priest to teach them and without the teachings.
Amplified Bible
"Now for a long time Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest, and without [God's] law.
New American Standard Bible
"For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without the Law.
World English Bible
Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law:
Geneva Bible (1587)
Nowe for a long season Israel hath bene without the true God, and without Priest to teach and without Lawe.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now for many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law.
Berean Standard Bible
For many years Israel has been without the true God, without a priest to instruct them, and without law.
Contemporary English Version
For a long time, the people of Israel did not worship the true God or listen to priests who could teach them about God. They refused to obey God's Law.
Complete Jewish Bible
For a long time Isra'el was without the true God, without a cohen who could teach, and without Torah.
Darby Translation
Now for a long while Israel [was] without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law;
Easy-to-Read Version
For a long time Israel was without the true God. And they were without a teaching priest, and without the law.
George Lamsa Translation
Now for a long time Israel has not served their God in truth and has not accepted the teaching of their priests and would not obey their laws; therefore they were delivered into the hand of their enemies.
Good News Translation
For a long time Israel lived without the true God, without priests to teach them, and without a law.
Lexham English Bible
Now Israel has been without the true God many days, and without a teaching priest, and without law,
Literal Translation
Yea, Israel has been without a true God many days, and without a teaching priest, and without Law.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Neuertheles there shal be many dayes in Israel, that there shalbe no true God, no prest to teach, & no lawe.
American Standard Version
Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law:
Bible in Basic English
Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Nowe for a long season Israel hath ben without the true God, and without priestes to teache, and without law.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Now for long seasons Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law;
King James Version (1611)
Now for a long season Israel hath bene without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Israel has been a long time without the true God, and without a priest to expound the truth, and without the law.
English Revised Version
Now for long seasons Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe many daies schulen passe in Israel with outen veri God, and without preest, and without techere, and without lawe.
Update Bible Version
Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law:
Webster's Bible Translation
Now for a long season Israel [hath been] without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
New King James Version
For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;
New Living Translation
For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Law to instruct them.
New Life Bible
For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching religious leader, and without law.
New Revised Standard
For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, many days, had Israel been, - without the faithful God, and without a teaching priest, and without the law;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And many days shall pass in Israel, without the true God, and without a priest a teacher, and without the law.
Revised Standard Version
For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law;
Young's Literal Translation
and many days [are] to Israel without a true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law.

Contextual Overview

1 God's Spirit came upon Azariah son of Oded. 2 He met Asa and told him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are loyal to him. If you seek him, he will respond to you, but if you reject him, he will reject you. 3 For a long time Israel had no true God, or priest to instruct them, or law. 4 Because of their distress, they turned back to the Lord God of Israel. They sought him and he responded to them. 5 In those days no one could travel safely, for total chaos had overtaken all the people of the surrounding lands. 6 One nation was crushed by another, and one city by another, for God caused them to be in great turmoil. 7 But as for you, be strong and don't get discouraged, for your work will be rewarded."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a long: 1 Kings 12:28-33, Hosea 3:4

true God: Jeremiah 10:10, John 17:3, 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 John 5:20

a teaching: 2 Chronicles 17:8, 2 Chronicles 17:9, Leviticus 10:11, Deuteronomy 33:10, Nehemiah 8:9, Ezekiel 44:21-23, Micah 3:11, Malachi 2:7, Matthew 2:4, Matthew 2:5, 1 Timothy 3:2

without law: Romans 2:12, Romans 7:8, Romans 7:9, 1 Corinthians 9:21

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 17:7 - to teach 2 Chronicles 30:22 - taught Lamentations 2:9 - the law Hosea 4:6 - for Ephesians 2:12 - without Ephesians 4:11 - pastors

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing.
Genesis 13:16
And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.
Genesis 14:14
When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he mobilized his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders as far as Dan.
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is like a tree of life.
Proverbs 29:21
If someone pampers his servant from youth, he will be a weakling in the end.
Proverbs 30:23
under an unloved woman who is married, and under a female servant who dispossesses her mistress.
Ecclesiastes 2:7
I purchased male and female slaves, and I owned slaves who were born in my house; I also possessed more livestock—both herds and flocks— than any of my predecessors in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 12:1
Lord , you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you. However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. Why are wicked people successful? Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now for a long season Israel [hath been] without the true God,.... The fear, worship, and service of him being greatly neglected by them for a long time; what period of time is referred to is not expressed, whether past, present, or to come, but left to be supplied; the Targum refers this to the time of the separation of the ten tribes, and the days of Jeroboam, when the calves were worshipped, and not the true God, and the teaching priests of the Lord were cast out, and the law of the Lord, especially with respect to worship, was not regarded, in which it is followed by many interpreters; others think it refers to time to come, and to what would be the case, should they forsake the Lord; and was fulfilled in the Babylonish captivity, see Hosea 3:4 and the Jews k say, that

"Oded prophesied that the days should come, when Israel would be "without the true God", since judgment should not be done in the world: and "without a teaching priest"; since the high priesthood should cease, (see Hebrews 7:12) "and without the law"; since the sanhedrim should cease;''

but according to our supplement, and which seems most correct, it refers to time past; not to the case of the ten tribes from the times of Jeroboam; nor to the case of Judah from the times of Rehoboam; but to times more remote, even the times of the judges, when they worshipped Baal and Ashtaroth, and not the true God, Judges 2:10, yet at the same time suggesting, that should the present inhabitants of Judah go into the same practices, their case would be like theirs, described in the following verses:

and without a teaching priest: as they were under the judges, from the times of Phinehas to those of Eli, which was a long space of time:

and without law; every man doing as he pleased, there being no king in Israel, nor any regard paid to the law of God, moral or ceremonial, Judges 17:6.

k Vajikra Rabba, sect. 19. fol. 160. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

“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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Chronicles 15:3. 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.


 
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