Passage

2 Chronicles 15.12-13

Book: 2 Chronicles · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

10. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11. And they sacrificed unto Jehovah in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

12. And they entered into the covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 13. and that whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

And they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. 15. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and Jehovah gave them rest round about. (2 Chronicles 15:10-15, ASV)

WEB

10. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 11. They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.

12. They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 13. and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. 15. All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found by them. Then Yahweh gave them rest all around. (2 Chronicles 15:10-15, WEB)

KJV

10. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11. And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ^{the same: Heb. in that day}

12. And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; 13. That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. 15. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about. (2 Chronicles 15:10-15, KJV)

YLT

10. And they are gathered to Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa, 11. and sacrifice to Jehovah on that day from the spoil they have brought in, oxen seven hundred, and sheep seven thousand,

12. and they enter into a covenant to seek Jehovah, God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul, 13. and every one who doth not seek for Jehovah, God of Israel, is put to death, from small unto great, from man unto woman.

And they swear to Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets, 15. and rejoice do all Judah concerning the oath, for with all their heart they have sworn, and with all their good-will they have sought Him, and He is found of them, and Jehovah giveth rest to them round about. (2 Chronicles 15:10-15, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: The Chronicler, as narrator. The book is anonymous. The passage reports the terms of the covenant Asa's assembly entered.
Audience: The restored community in post-exilic Judah, living as a Persian province around a rebuilt temple, being shown how the monarchy and the sanctuary they inherited came to this point.
Location: Jerusalem and post-exilic Judah. The narrated events run from Solomon's accession to the fall of the city and the decree of Cyrus.
Time period: Narrating roughly 970 to 539 BC; composed later, most commonly placed in the fifth or fourth century BC. The book is anonymous. Jewish tradition associates it with Ezra, which is tradition rather than a claim the text makes.

Theological reading

The people enter a covenant to seek Jehovah with all their heart and soul, and then verse 13 attaches a penalty: whoever would not seek him should be put to death, small or great, man or woman. The severity should not be smoothed over. Two things frame it. It is the assembly's own oath rather than a statute imposed on them, and it stands within the Chronicler's dominant verb, darash, to seek, which runs through the book as the measure of every reign. Chronicles is organised around seeking and forsaking, and this passage is the point where the community binds itself to the first.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H3824 - lebab, lebab, Strong's H3824
H1285 - berith, berith, Strong's H1285
H5315 - nephesh, nephesh, Strong's H5315
H4191 - mut, mut, Strong's H4191
H0001 - ab, ab, Strong's H0001
H0430 - elohim, elohim, Strong's H0430

Quoted in

Concepts:

Mosaic Capital Punishment

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.