2 Kings 23:21
in 2 Kings 23The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto Jehovah your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.
KJV
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
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This verse in 2 Kings 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseLove faith. For by his devotion and faith Josiah won great love for himself from his enemies. For he celebrated the Lord's Passover when he was eighteen years old, as no one had done it before him. As then in zeal he was superior to those who went before him, so do you, my children, show zeal for God. Let zeal for God search you through and devour you, so that each one of you may say, "The zeal of your house has eaten me up." An apostle of Christ was called the zealot.
This site's exposition
Keep the Passover of the LORD your God
on 2 Kings 23:21-23
The king commands, "Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant," the book newly found. The record says no such Passover had been observed "from the days of the judges" through all the days of the kings.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the king commanded all the people,.... Not at Jerusalem only, but throughout the whole kingdom: saying: keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant; which had been lately found and read, and they had agreed to observe, and in which this ordinance was strictly enjoined, and was a commemoration of their deliverance out of Egypt, and a direction of their faith to the Messiah, the antitype of the passover.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
See 2Ki 23:4 note. With this verse the author returns to the narrative of what was done in Josiah’s 18th year. The need of the injunction, “as it was written in the book of this covenant,” was owing to the fact - not that Josiah had as yet held no Passover - but that the reading of the book had shown him differences between the existing practice and the letter of the Law - differences consequent upon negligence, or upon the fact that tradition had been allowed in various points to override the Law.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Many of the Israelites who were at Jerusalem might have heard of, if they did not hear, the law read by Josiah. It is probable that they might even have procured a copy of the law, stimulated as they were to the better observance of Jehovah's worship by the unusual and solemn transactions at Jerusalem.
How the passage was read
On 2 Kings 23:21-23On 2 Kings 23:21-23
A Passover like none since the judges
Josiah's reform climaxes not in a battle but in a feast: the king commands the Passover “as it is written in this Book of the Covenant,” and the historian says no Passover like it had been kept since the days of the judges. The verse is a quiet measure of how far the feast had lapsed under the kings, and how central it was to covenant renewal: to come back to God was, concretely, to keep His calendar again.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: 2 Chronicles 35:1–19 (the parallel account, in detail) · Deuteronomy 16:1–8 (the written command Josiah followed)
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְצַ֤ו | vaytzav | and he commanded | H6680 → | 494 times |
| הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָעָ֣ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לֵאמֹ֔ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| עֲשׂ֣וּ | ʾasu | observe | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| פֶ֔סַח | fesach | a passover | H6453 → | 49 times |
| לַֽיהוָ֖ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֑ם | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| כַּכָּת֕וּב | kakatuv | according to <the> [what] is written | H3789 → | 224 times |
| עַ֛ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| סֵ֥פֶר | sefer | [the] scroll of | H5612 → | 186 times |
| הַבְּרִ֖ית | haberit | the covenant | H1285 → | 284 times |
| הַזֶּֽה׃ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
וַיְצַ֤וand he commanded
vaytzavH6680 →494 times
הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙the king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָעָ֣םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
עֲשׂ֣וּobserve
ʾasuH6213 →2628 times
פֶ֔סַחa passover
fesachH6453 →49 times
לַֽיהוָ֖הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֑םGod your
ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 times
כַּכָּת֕וּבaccording to <the> [what] is written
kakatuvH3789 →224 times
עַ֛לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
סֵ֥פֶר[the] scroll of
seferH5612 →186 times
הַבְּרִ֖יתthe covenant
haberitH1285 →284 times
הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies14
On this chapter
About 2 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 2.30.154; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).