2 Chronicles 31 (WK) - Bible Truth Library

Library Home>2 Chronicles 31 (WK)

Go

Verse 2

Articles on

2 Chronicles 31

2 Chron. 31:1 KJV (With Strong’s)

+

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 brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; {i}for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan{/i}. (2 Kings 18:4)

g

2 Chron. 30:14• ¹⁴And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away and cast them into the brook Kidron. (2 Chron. 30:14)

σ

to make an end.

More on:

+

Benjamin,

Ephraim,

Grove,

Image,

Israel,

Judah,

Manasseh

Cross References

+

Ministry on This Verse

+

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• ¹{i}And Hezekiah{/i} 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 keep the Passover unto Jehovah God of Israel.
²{i}And the king took counsel, and his princes, and the whole congregation in Jerusalem, to hold the Passover in the second month.{/i}
³{i}For 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.{/i}
⁴And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.
⁵{i}So{/i} they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel from Beer-Sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto Jehovah God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.
⁶So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto Jehovah 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 ye like your fathers and like your brethren which trespassed against Jehovah God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see.
⁸Now, be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto Jehovah, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified forever, {i}and serve Jehovah your God, that the fierceness of his anger may turn away from you.{/i}
⁹{i}For 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.{/i}
¹⁰So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.
¹¹Nevertheless, divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
¹²Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king, and of the princes, by the word of Jehovah.
¹³And there assembled {i}at Jerusalem much people to hold the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation{/i}.
¹⁴And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away and cast them into the brook Kidron.
¹⁵Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month, and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of Jehovah,
¹⁶and they stood in their place {i}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.{/i}
¹⁷{i}For 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.{/i}
¹⁸{i}For 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{/i}
¹⁹{i}that has directed his heart to seek God, Jehovah the God of his fathers, although not according to the purification of the sanctuary.{/i}
²⁰{i}And Jehovah hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.{/i}
²¹{i}And{/i} the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, singing with loud instruments unto Jehovah.
²²And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites {i}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.{/i}
²³{i}And the whole congregation took counsel to observe other seven days; and they observed the seven days with gladness.{/i}
²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation 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 sanctified themselves.
²⁵And all the 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.
²⁶So there was great joy in Jerusalem; {i}for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had not been the like in Jerusalem.{/i}
²⁷{i}And 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{/i}. (2 Chron. 30:1‑27)

all Israel.

1 Kings 18:38‑40• ³⁸Then the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
³⁹And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, Jehovah, he is the God; Jehovah, he is the God.
⁴⁰And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. (1 Kings 18:38‑40)

;

2 Kings 23:2‑20• ²{i}And{/i} 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 was found in the house of Jehovah.
³And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
⁴{i}And 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.{/i}
⁵{i}And 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.{/i}
⁶{i}And 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.{/i}
⁷{i}And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, which were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove tents for the Asherah.{/i}
⁸{i}And 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.{/i}
⁹{i}Nevertheless 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.{/i}
¹⁰{i}And 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.{/i}
¹¹{i}And 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.{/i}
¹²{i}And 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.{/i}
¹³{i}And 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.{/i}
¹⁴{i}And he broke in pieces the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and filled their place with the bones of men.{/i}
¹⁵{i}Moreover 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.{/i}
¹⁶{i}And 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.{/i}
¹⁷{i}Then 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.{/i}
¹⁸{i}And 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.{/i}
¹⁹{i}And 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.{/i}
²⁰{i}And 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.{/i} (2 Kings 23:2‑20)

present.

Heb. found.

Gen. 19:15• ¹⁵And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. (Gen. 19:15)

;

Esther 4:16• ¹⁶Go, gather together all the Jews that are found in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast in like manner; 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• ³for he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and broke down the images, and cut down the groves: (2 Chron. 14:3)

;

2 Chron. 23:17• ¹⁷{i}And 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.{/i} (2 Chron. 23:17)

;

2 Chron. 32:12• ¹²{i}Has 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?{/i} (2 Chron. 32:12)

;

2 Chron. 34:3‑7• ³In 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 groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
⁴And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence, and the images that were on high above them, he cut down: and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
⁵And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
⁶And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
⁷And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 34:3‑7)

;

Ex. 23:24• ²⁴{i}Thou 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.{/i} (Ex. 23:24)

;

Deut. 7:5• ⁵{i}But 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.{/i} (Deut. 7:5)

;

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

images.

Heb. statues.

2 Chron. 30:14• ¹⁴And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away and cast them into the brook Kidron. (2 Chron. 30:14)

in Ephraim.

2 Chron. 30:1,18• ¹{i}And Hezekiah{/i} 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 keep the Passover unto Jehovah God of Israel.
¹⁸{i}For 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{/i} (2 Chron. 30:1,18)

;

2 Chron. 34:6‑7• ⁶And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
⁷And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 34:6‑7)

;

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

;

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

;

2 Kings 23:15• ¹⁵{i}Moreover 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.{/i} (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

+

1

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

+

b

Or "statues." see 1 Kings 14.23.

W. Kelly Translation

+

1

And when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the columns, 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. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his own possession, into their own cities.

WK Verse Note

+

(Note: Words in italics have been inserted from the J. N. Darby translation where the W. Kelly translation doesn’t exist.)