2 Chronicles 15:4
in 2 Chronicles 15But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found by them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
KJV
But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 15
Commentary
4 notes on this verseBut when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel,.... When being carried captive by neighbouring nations, and oppressed; and they cried unto the Lord, and repented of their sins, and turned from them to him: and sought him; by prayer and supplication: he was found of them; and appeared for their help and deliverance, of which there are many instances in the book of Judges.
This site's exposition
without the true God, and without a teaching priest
on 2 Chronicles 15:3-6
The oracle's history lesson reaches back past Asa's own lifetime to the era of the judges, a long season with no true God worshipped, no teaching priest, and no law kept, the very words a remnant returned from Babylon would hear about their own recent captivity. Nation broke against nation and city against city because, the text says plainly, God vexed them with all adversity, the same pattern of covenant curse and covenant return that Judges narrates in its cycles. Henry and Gill both set the reference in the days of the judges; Barnes reads it more broadly, of the whole people of God across their many apostasies and deliverances. Azariah does not invent Israel's danger; he names its long precedent.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But the question is, What time does this refer to? Some think it looks as far back as the days of the Judges. A long season ago Israel was without the true God, for they worshipped false gods; it was a time of ignorance, for, though they had priests, they had no teaching priests, though they had elders, yet no law to any purpose,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Now there were many days for Israel without a true God until you came.
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.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּ֙שָׁב֙ | vaiyashov | and it turned back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| בַּצַּר־ | batzar- | when <the> it was distress | H6862 → | |
| ל֔וֹ | lo | to it | ||
| עַל־ | ʾal- | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֣י | ʾelohei | [the] God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וַיְבַקְשֻׁ֖הוּ | vayvakshuhu | and they sought him | H1245 → | 225 times |
| וַיִּמָּצֵ֥א | vaiyimatze' | and he let himself be found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| לָהֶֽם׃ | lahem | by them |
וַיָּ֙שָׁב֙and it turned back
vaiyashovH7725 →1056 times
בַּצַּר־when <the> it was distress
batzar-H6862 →
ל֔וֹto it
lo
עַל־to
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֣י[the] God of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וַיְבַקְשֻׁ֖הוּand they sought him
vayvakshuhuH1245 →225 times
וַיִּמָּצֵ֥אand he let himself be found
vaiyimatze'H4672 →455 times
לָהֶֽם׃by them
lahem
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Isaiah 55:6Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 29:12–14
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Psalms 145:18
The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- Isaiah 45:19
I have not spoken in secret, from a place in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a wasteland.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth;…
- Psalms 32:6
Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.
- Psalms 14:2
The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.
- Jeremiah 29:12–14
Through
Hosea 6:1Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
it leads to
- Job 5:18
For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
- Deuteronomy 32:39
See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…
- 1 Samuel 2:6
The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- Job 5:18
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.