Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

2 Chronicles 23:7

in 2 Chronicles 23

The Levites must surround the king with weapons in hand, and anyone who enters the temple must be put to death. You must stay close to the king wherever he goes.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever cometh into the house, let him be slain: and be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out.

KJV

And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else cometh into the house, he shall be put to death: but be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out.

⋯

This verse in 2 Chronicles 23

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This 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

You must stay close to the king wherever he goes

The Levites form a ring around the king with weapons in hand, and any intruder into the temple is to be killed. Barnes compares 2 Kings 11:8, where the royal guard holds the same post, and judges that soldiers and Levites stood mixed in about equal numbers.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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.
Compare 2Ki 11:8, 2Ki 11:11. The soldiers and the Levites in the temple were probably intermixed in about equal proportions.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְהִקִּיפוּ֩and they will surround

    vehikifuH5362 →

  • הַלְוִיִּ֨םthe Levites

    halviyimH3881 →291 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמֶּ֜לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • סָבִ֗יבall around

    savivH5439 →336 times

  • אִ֚ישׁeach man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • וְכֵלָ֣יוand weapons his

    vekhelavH3627 →325 times

  • בְּיָד֔וֹin hand his

    beyadoH3027 →1618 times

  • וְהַבָּ֥אand the [one who] comes

    vehaba'H935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־into

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַבַּ֖יִתthe house

    habayitH1004 →2046 times

  • יוּמָ֑תhe will be put to death

    yumatH4191 →839 times

  • וִֽהְי֥וּand be

    vihyuH1961 →3559 times

  • אֶת־with

    ʾet-H854 →929 times

  • הַמֶּ֖לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • בְּבֹא֥וֹwhen comes he

    bevooH935 →2568 times

  • וּבְצֵאתֽוֹ׃and when goes out he

    uvetzetoH3318 →1067 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Kings 11:8You must surround the king with weapons in hand, and anyone who approaches the ranks must be put to death. You must stay close to the king wherever he goes.”3 worksNumbers 3:38Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service on behalf of the Israelites; but any outsider who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.2 worksExodus 21:14But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.2 worksExodus 19:12–13And you are to set up a boundary for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful not to go up on the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.2 worksNumbers 3:10So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.”2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Numbers 3:10

    So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.”

    it leads to

    • Numbers 1:51

      Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who goes near it must…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Numbers 3:38

      Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service…

    • Numbers 18:7

      But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the…

  • Through

    Exodus 21:14

    But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 2:28–34

      When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah but not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.

    • Hebrews 10:26

      If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,

  • Through

    Numbers 3:38

    Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 1:53

      But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the…

    • Numbers 3:10

      So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.”

    • Numbers 2:3

      On the east side, toward the sunrise, the divisions of Judah are to camp under their standard:

About 2 Chronicles

Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.
Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.
2 Chronicles: the study guide →Read 2 Chronicles 23 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Keil, The Books of the Chronicles.

Read on in 2 Chronicles 23 →