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2 Chronicles 31

2 Chron. 31:1 KJV (With Strong’s)

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1

Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were πpresent went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the ρimages in piecesf, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altarsg out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, σuntil they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

π

found.

ρ

statues.

f

2 Kings 18:4• ⁴He removed the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and broke in pieces the serpent of brass that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4)

g

2 Chron. 30:14• ¹⁴And they rose up and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem; and they took away all the incense-altars, and cast them into the torrent Kidron. (2 Chron. 30:14)

σ

to make an end.

More on:

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Benjamin,

Ephraim,

Grove,

Image,

Israel,

Judah,

Manasseh

Cross References

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Ministry on This Verse

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1: The people is forward in destroying idolatry.

2-4: Hezekiah orders the courses of the priests and Levites, and provides for their work and maintenance.

5-10: The people's forwardness in offerings and tithes.

11-19: Hezekiah appoints officers to dispose of the tithes.

20-21: The sincerity of Hezekiah.

Now when.

2 Chron. 30:1‑27• ¹And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel.
²And the king took counsel, and his princes, and the whole congregation in Jerusalem, to hold the passover in the second month.
³For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not hallowed themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people been gathered together to Jerusalem.
⁴And the thing pleased the king and the whole congregation.
⁵So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; because they had not held it for a long time as it was written.
⁶And the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, return to Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
⁷And be not like your fathers and like your brethren, who transgressed against Jehovah the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
⁸Now, harden not your necks, as your fathers; yield yourselves to Jehovah, and come to his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever; and serve Jehovah your God, that the fierceness of his anger may turn away from you.
⁹For if ye return to Jehovah, your brethren and your children shall find compassion with those that have carried them captive, so that they shall come again unto this land; for Jehovah your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return to him.
¹⁰And the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun; but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.
¹¹Nevertheless certain of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
¹²The hand of God was also upon Judah to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of Jehovah.
¹³And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to hold the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.
¹⁴And they rose up and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem; and they took away all the incense-altars, and cast them into the torrent Kidron.
¹⁵And they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and hallowed themselves; and they brought the burnt-offerings into the house of Jehovah.
¹⁶And they stood in their place after their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood receiving it from the hand of the Levites.
¹⁷For there were many in the congregation that were not hallowed; therefore the Levites had the charge of the slaughtering of the passover-lambs for every one not clean, to hallow them unto Jehovah.
¹⁸For a multitude of the people, many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, and they ate the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, Jehovah, who is good, forgive every one
¹⁹that has directed his heart to seek God, Jehovah the God of his fathers, although not according to the purification of the sanctuary.
²⁰And Jehovah hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
²¹And the children of Israel, that were present at Jerusalem, held the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, with the instruments of praise to Jehovah.
²²And Hezekiah spoke consolingly to all the Levites that had understanding in the good knowledge of Jehovah; and they ate the feast-offerings the seven days, sacrificing peace-offerings, and extolling Jehovah the God of their fathers.
²³And the whole congregation took counsel to observe other seven days; and they observed the seven days with gladness.
²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the congregation as heave-offering: a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests hallowed themselves.
²⁵And the whole congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.
²⁶And there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had not been the like in Jerusalem.
²⁷And the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, to the heavens. (2 Chron. 30:1‑27)

all Israel.

1 Kings 18:38‑40• ³⁸And the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
³⁹And all the people saw it, and they fell on their faces and said, Jehovah, he is God! Jehovah, he is God!
⁴⁰And Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape! And they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the torrent of Kishon, and slaughtered them there. (1 Kings 18:38‑40)

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2 Kings 23:2‑20• ²And the king went up into the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of Jehovah.
³And the king stood on the dais, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart, and with all his soul, to establish the words of this covenant that are written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
⁴And the king commanded Hilkijah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.
⁵And he abolished the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah, and the environs of Jerusalem; and them that burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.
⁶And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah, outside Jerusalem, to the torrent of Kidron, and burned it at the torrent of Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder upon the graves of the children of the people.
⁷And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, which were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove tents for the Asherah.
⁸And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba even to Beer-sheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates, those at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, and those on the left hand of any going in at the gate of the city.
⁹Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they ate of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
¹⁰And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might cause his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
¹¹And he abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had appointed to the sun at the entrance of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun, with fire.
¹²And the king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, and he shattered them, removing them from thence, and cast the powder of them into the torrent of Kidron.
¹³And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
¹⁴And he broke in pieces the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and filled their place with the bones of men.
¹⁵Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and burned the high place, stamped it small to powder, and burned the Asherah.
¹⁶And Josiah turned himself, and saw the sepulchres that were there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Jehovah, that the man of God had proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
¹⁷Then he said, What tombstone is that which I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
¹⁸And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. And they saved his bones, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
¹⁹And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Jehovah to anger, Josiah removed, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
²⁰And he sacrificed upon the altars all the priests of the high places that were there, and burned men's bones upon them. And he returned to Jerusalem. (2 Kings 23:2‑20)

present.

Heb. found.

Gen. 19:15• ¹⁵And as the dawn arose, the angels urged Lot, saying, Up, take thy wife and thy two daughters who are present, lest thou perish in the iniquity of the city. (Gen. 19:15)

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Esther 4:16• ¹⁶Go, gather together all the Jews that are found in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish. (Esther 4:16)

brake.

2 Chron. 14:3• ³and he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs; (2 Chron. 14:3)

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2 Chron. 23:17• ¹⁷And all the people went into the house of Baal, and broke it down; and they broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. (2 Chron. 23:17)

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2 Chron. 32:12• ¹²Has not the same Hezekiah removed his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem saying, Ye shall worship before *one* altar, and burn incense upon it? (2 Chron. 32:12)

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2 Chron. 34:3‑7• ³And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherahs, and the graven images, and the molten images.
⁴And they broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the sun-pillars that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherahs and the graven images and the molten images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of those that had sacrificed to them;
⁵and he burned the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
⁶And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, in their ruins round about;
⁷and he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherahs and the graven images into powder, and cut down all the sun-pillars throughout the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 34:3‑7)

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Ex. 23:24• ²⁴Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their deeds; but thou shalt utterly destroy them, and utterly shatter their statues. (Ex. 23:24)

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Deut. 7:5• ⁵But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs, and burn their graven images with fire. (Deut. 7:5)

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2 Kings 18:4• ⁴He removed the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and broke in pieces the serpent of brass that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4)

images.

Heb. statues.

2 Chron. 30:14• ¹⁴And they rose up and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem; and they took away all the incense-altars, and cast them into the torrent Kidron. (2 Chron. 30:14)

in Ephraim.

2 Chron. 30:1,18• ¹And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel.
¹⁸For a multitude of the people, many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, and they ate the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, Jehovah, who is good, forgive every one (2 Chron. 30:1,18)

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2 Chron. 34:6‑7• ⁶And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, in their ruins round about;
⁷and he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherahs and the graven images into powder, and cut down all the sun-pillars throughout the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 34:6‑7)

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2 Kings 17:2• ²And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, but not as the kings of Israel that had been before him. (2 Kings 17:2)

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2 Kings 18:4• ⁴He removed the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and broke in pieces the serpent of brass that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4)

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2 Kings 23:15• ¹⁵Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and burned the high place, stamped it small to powder, and burned the Asherah. (2 Kings 23:15)

until, etc.

Heb. until to make an end.

• Let us note that the overthrow of idols in the midst of Judah and Israel does not take place until God's temple had been opened and purified, and the worship reestablished as at the beginning (2 Chron. 31:1-4). (“Hezekiah - The Order of the House of God: 2 Chronicles 31” by H.L. Rossier)

• The power to overthrow evil will never be entirely effective if that which has been built is not unadulterated truth, as the Word teaches us. If our enemies can prove to us that in many points we ourselves are not on the ground of the Word which we are defending, we have lost all authority in the contest. (“Hezekiah - The Order of the House of God: 2 Chronicles 31” by H.L. Rossier)

• Purification from all idolatry was all the more serious because the people had already experienced its benefits at Jerusalem; now purification must be complete, absolute. Ephraim and Manasseh, however few in number, having joined themselves to Judah for the Passover, were responsible to make the same arrangements at home as were taken in Judah. (“Hezekiah - The Order of the House of God: 2 Chronicles 31” by H.L. Rossier)

J. N. Darby Translation

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And when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the columnsb, and hewed down the Asherahs, and demolished the high places and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. And all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession, into their cities.

JND Translation Notes

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b

Or "statues." see 1 Kings 14.23.