2 Chronicles 30:3
in 2 Chronicles 30since they had been unable to observe it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
KJV
For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 30
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
on 2 Chronicles 30:1-5
Hoshea, the reigning king, is described as, though evil in some respects, yet more favorably disposed to religious liberty than any of his predecessors since the separation of the kingdom. This is thought to be the meaning of the mitigating clause in his character (2Ki 17:2).
This site's exposition
wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh
on 2 Chronicles 30:1-3
Hezekiah's proclamation reaches past Judah into the fallen north, calling Ephraim and Manasseh to the house of the Lord though the calves at Dan and Bethel had governed worship there for two centuries. He takes counsel with his princes and the whole congregation before setting a date, and the date itself breaks the ordinary calendar: the priests are not yet sanctified and the people are not yet gathered, so the passover falls to the second month, the very provision Num 9:9-11 wrote for one man defiled or traveling far off, now applied to a nation still finding its way back.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Whereupon they resolved to keep the passover in the second month. Let the circumstance give way to the substance, and let not the thing itself be lost upon a nicety about the time. It is good striking while the iron is hot, and taking people when they are in a good mind.
How the passage was read
On 2 Chronicles 30:1-27On 2 Chronicles 30:1-27
The Passover held a month late
Hezekiah's great Passover is kept in the SECOND month, and that is not an irregularity he invented: the Law itself provides a one-month make-up date for those unclean or far off (Numbers 9:10–11, the “Second Passover”). Hezekiah applies the provision nationally because the priests and the people could not be ready in time. Notice the chapter's heart: many northerners ate the Passover ritually unclean, and the king prays for them, “may the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God,” and the LORD heals the people. The feast's paperwork bends; the seeking heart is heard.
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: Numbers 9:10–11 (the Second-Passover provision) · Mishnah Pesachim 9:1 (the provision in the oral law)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| לֹ֧א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָכְל֛וּ | yakhelu | they had been able | H3201 → | 194 times |
| לַעֲשֹׂת֖וֹ | laasoto | to observe it | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בָּעֵ֣ת | baet | at the time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| הַהִ֑יא | hahi' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הַכֹּהֲנִים֙ | hakohanim | the priests | H3548 → | 750 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הִתְקַדְּשׁ֣וּ | hitkadeshu | they had consecrated themselves | H6942 → | 171 times |
| לְמַדַּ֔י | lemadai | to <from> [what] [was] sufficiency | H4100 →H1767 → | 39 times |
| וְהָעָ֖ם | vehaam | and the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נֶאֶסְפ֥וּ | neesfu | they had gathered | H622 → | 200 times |
| לִֽירוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ | lirushalim | to Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
לֹ֧אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יָכְל֛וּthey had been able
yakheluH3201 →194 times
לַעֲשֹׂת֖וֹto observe it
laasotoH6213 →2628 times
בָּעֵ֣תat the time
baetH6256 →296 times
הַהִ֑יא<the> that
hahi'H1931 →1879 times
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
הַכֹּהֲנִים֙the priests
hakohanimH3548 →750 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
הִתְקַדְּשׁ֣וּthey had consecrated themselves
hitkadeshuH6942 →171 times
לְמַדַּ֔יto <from> [what] [was] sufficiency
וְהָעָ֖םand the people
vehaamH5971 →1873 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
נֶאֶסְפ֥וּthey had gathered
neesfuH622 →200 times
לִֽירוּשָׁלִָֽם׃to Jerusalem
lirushalimH3389 →643 times
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
Exodus 12:6You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
it leads to
- Leviticus 23:5
The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
- Numbers 28:16
The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover.
- 2 Chronicles 30:15–18
And on the fourteenth day of the second month they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.
- Numbers 9:11
Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;
- Exodus 12:18
In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
- Leviticus 23:5
Through
Exodus 12:18In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
it leads to
- Exodus 12:15
For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be…
- Leviticus 23:5–8
The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
- Exodus 12:15
Through
2 Chronicles 29:34However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had been consecrated. For the Levites had…
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 35:11
And they slaughtered the Passover lambs, while the priests sprinkled the blood handed to them and the Levites skinned the animals.
- 2 Chronicles 35:11
About 2 Chronicles

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
