2 Chronicles 23:5
in 2 Chronicles 23a third shall be at the royal palace, and a third at the Foundation Gate, while all the others are in the courtyards of the house of the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of Jehovah.
KJV
And a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 23
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
shall keep watch at the doors
on 2 Chronicles 23:4-7
Jehoiada's plan turns on one restriction the parallel in Kings does not carry. “No one is to enter the house of the LORD except the priests and those Levites who serve”, since “they are consecrated”. Chronicles builds it around the temple's line between holy and common ground.
This site's exposition
a third at the Foundation Gate
The watch is split three ways: one company at the royal palace, one at the Foundation Gate, and the rest in the temple courts. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the division as a guard for the king's person, with the other bodies holding the doors and gates.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The people were divided into three bodies; one attended as guards to the king, while the other two were posted at all the doors and gates, and the captains and military officers who entered the temple unarmed to lull suspicion, were furnished with weapons out of the sacred armory, where David had deposited his trophies of victory and which was reopened on this occasion.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהַשְּׁלִשִׁית֙ | vehashelishit | and the third [part] | H7992 → | 107 times |
| בְּבֵ֣ית | beveit | [will be] at [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| וְהַשְּׁלִשִׁ֖ית | vehashelishit | and the third [part] | H7992 → | 107 times |
| בְּשַׁ֣עַר | beshaar | [will be] at [the] gate of | H8179 → | 374 times |
| הַיְס֑וֹד | haysod | the foundation | H3247 → | |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָעָ֔ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| בְּחַצְר֖וֹת | bechatzrot | [will be] in [the] courts of | H2691 → | 191 times |
| בֵּ֥ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וְהַשְּׁלִשִׁית֙and the third [part]
vehashelishitH7992 →107 times
בְּבֵ֣ית[will be] at [the] house of
beveitH1004 →2046 times
הַמֶּ֔לֶךְthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
וְהַשְּׁלִשִׁ֖יתand the third [part]
vehashelishitH7992 →107 times
בְּשַׁ֣עַר[will be] at [the] gate of
beshaarH8179 →374 times
הַיְס֑וֹדthe foundation
haysodH3247 →
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
הָעָ֔םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
בְּחַצְר֖וֹת[will be] in [the] courts of
bechatzrotH2691 →191 times
בֵּ֥ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 3:2And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.
it leads to
- Acts 14:8
In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
- John 9:8
At this, his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging began to ask, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”
- Luke 16:20
And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores
- Acts 10:31
and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God.
- Luke 18:35
As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging.
- Acts 14:8
About 2 Chronicles

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Keil, The Books of the Chronicles.
