2 Chronicles 36:15 kjv
And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
2 Chronicles 36:15 nkjv
And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.
2 Chronicles 36:15 niv
The LORD, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.
2 Chronicles 36:15 esv
The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
2 Chronicles 36:15 nlt
The LORD, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple.
2 Chronicles 36 15 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Jer 7:25-26 | "Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt even to this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them; yet they have not listened to Me, nor inclined their ear..." | God's persistent sending of prophets and Israel's refusal to listen. |
| Jer 25:3-4 | "For twenty-three years... I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened..." | Reiterates God's long-term, diligent warnings through prophets. |
| Jer 26:5 | "...if you will not listen to My words, which I have sent to you by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them..." | Emphasizes the consequence of ignoring the prophets. |
| Jer 29:19 | "...because they have not heeded My words, says the LORD, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them..." | God states His persistent sending of warnings. |
| Neh 9:29-30 | "Yet many years You had patience with them, and testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands." | God's long-suffering through the Holy Spirit in prophets, yet they refused. |
| Isa 30:8-11 | "Now go, write it before them on a tablet... that they are a rebellious people... who say to the seers, 'Do not see!' And to the prophets, 'Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.'" | People's direct rejection of the prophetic message. |
| Hos 12:10-13 | "I have also spoken by the prophets, and have multiplied visions; I have given parables through the ministries of the prophets." | God's consistent method of communication through prophets. |
| Zech 1:3-6 | "Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,"’ ... "but they did not hear nor understand.” | Call to repentance via prophets, echoing the consequence of not hearing. |
| Matt 23:37 | "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together..." | Jesus' lament over Jerusalem's consistent rejection and persecution of God's messengers. |
| Acts 7:52 | "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they murdered those who foretold the coming of the Just One..." | Stephen's speech highlighting Israel's historical pattern of persecuting prophets. |
| Heb 1:1-2 | "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son..." | God's pattern of communication culminates in His Son. |
| Ex 34:6-7 | "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..." | Fundamental declaration of God's compassionate character. |
| Ps 103:8-13 | "The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever..." | Highlights God's slow-to-anger nature and abundance of compassion. |
| Lam 3:22-23 | "Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." | God's compassion as the reason for preservation despite unworthiness. |
| Eze 33:11 | "Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’" | God's desire for repentance over judgment, motivated by His mercy. |
| Jonah 4:2 | "So he prayed to the LORD and said, "Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm." | Confirms God's inherent character of compassion and readiness to avert judgment. |
| Deut 28:15-68 | "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes... that all these curses will come upon you..." | Stipulates the consequences of disobedience, showing God's justice is linked to prior warnings. |
| Lev 26:14-39 | "But if you do not obey Me, and do not perform all these commandments... I also will do this to you..." | Another warning passage outlining curses for covenant breaking. |
| 2 Pet 3:9 | "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." | New Testament perspective on God's patience leading to repentance. |
| Ps 74:7 | "They have set fire to Your sanctuary; They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground." | Lament over the destruction of God's "dwelling place" (Temple). |
| Ps 78:60-61 | "So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent which He had pitched among men, And delivered His strength into captivity, And His glory into the enemy’s hand." | Shows God allowing His dwelling place to suffer when His people transgress. |
2 Chronicles 36 verses
2 Chronicles 36 15 Meaning
The verse conveys God's unwavering diligence and deep compassion in repeatedly warning the people of Judah through His prophets before His judgment was finally executed. It emphasizes His earnest efforts to call them to repentance, motivated by His tender love for His covenant people and His reverence for His own Temple, the very place of His presence. This persistent divine outreach preceded the severe consequences of their sustained disobedience and rebellion.
2 Chronicles 36 15 Context
2 Chronicles 36 recounts the final tragic decline of the kingdom of Judah, marked by four successive kings (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah) who each did "evil in the sight of the LORD." This verse serves as a crucial interlude, offering God's justification for the severe judgment of the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple that follows. Before detailing these catastrophic events (vv. 16-21), the chronicler highlights God's immense patience and tireless efforts to prevent the disaster. It sets up the narrative by portraying God as not capricious or hasty in His wrath, but as a merciful Father who warned repeatedly and with great concern. The historical context is the period leading up to the end of the Davidic monarchy in Judah (early 6th century BCE), where the people, from the king to the priests and commoners, increasingly apostatized, defiled the Temple, and ridiculed God's prophets. This verse emphasizes God's proactive attempts to avert their impending doom by calling them to repentance through His appointed messengers.
2 Chronicles 36 15 Word analysis
- And the LORD God (וַיְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי, vayhovah Elohei): "LORD" (Yahweh) signifies God's covenant name, highlighting His faithfulness and personal relationship with Israel. "God" (Elohim) denotes His sovereign power and universal authority. Together, it emphasizes the personal, mighty God who established the covenant with their ancestors.
- of their fathers (אֲבֹתָם, avotam): Refers to the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and implies the historical, binding covenant God made with Israel, underscoring the inherited relationship and responsibilities.
- sent warnings (שָׁלַח עַל־הָאַדָּה, shalach al-ha’adah): "Sent" (שָׁלַח, shalach) implies an authoritative dispatch. "Warnings" comes from a word that means "to make one testify," "admonish," or "charge strongly." It suggests not mere advice, but serious, covenantal charges.
- to them (אֲלֵיהֶם, aleihim): Direct recipient of God's specific and pointed messages.
- by his messengers (בְּיַד מַלְאָכָיו, b'yad mal’akhaw): Literally "by the hand of His angels/messengers." In this context, the primary "messengers" are the prophets (e.g., Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc.) whom God used to communicate His will, commands, and warnings. They served as divine envoys.
- rising up early (וַיַּשְׁכֵּם, vayyashkem): An idiomatic Hebrew expression for diligent, earnest, and repeated effort. It conveys God's intense and continuous care, His ceaseless desire to reach His people, not acting sluggishly or intermittently but with full dedication. It personifies God's relentless pursuit.
- and sending them (וְשָׁלוֹחַ, v'shaloch): Reinforces the preceding phrase, emphasizing the constant, repeated dispatch of these messengers over time, highlighting the sustained nature of God's patience and effort.
- because he had compassion (כִּי־חָמַל, ki-chamal): The root (חָמַל, chamal) means to pity, to spare, to show mercy. This reveals the deep motivation behind God's warnings: it was not out of anger but out of a tender, protective love and a desire to spare them from the impending judgment.
- on His people (עַל־עַמּוֹ, al-amo): Referring to the Israelites, Judah. They are God's chosen, beloved covenant people. His compassion extends specifically to their well-being and existence.
- and on His dwelling place (וְעַל־מְעוֹנוֹ, v'al-m'ono): Specifically refers to the Temple in Jerusalem. God's compassion extended not only to the lives of His people but also to the sacredness and preservation of the physical place where His Name resided and where worship was offered. Its impending destruction was not taken lightly by God, demonstrating His sorrow even over the fate of a physical structure consecrated to Him.
2 Chronicles 36 15 Bonus section
- The chronicler, writing after the exile, strategically places this verse to explain why such a devastating judgment occurred, emphasizing the moral failure of the people and the priests (2 Chron 36:14), rather than God's failure. It highlights that judgment followed a long period of divine grace and warning.
- The phrase "rising up early and sending them" is a key phrase frequently found in Jeremiah (e.g., Jer 7:13, 25; 25:3, 4; 26:5; 29:19; 35:14, 15; 44:4), underscoring the common prophetic tradition and the consistent nature of God's earnest warnings.
- This verse provides theological grounding for the events that follow in 2 Chronicles 36:16-21, where the people mock the messengers, despise God's words, and scoff at His prophets, leading to irrevocable wrath. It portrays divine justice as ultimately necessary given humanity's free choice to reject divine love.
2 Chronicles 36 15 Commentary
2 Chronicles 36:15 is a pivotal statement clarifying the justice and mercy of God in the face of Judah's impending destruction. It disabuses any notion that God acted impulsively or harshly in bringing judgment. Instead, it underscores His extraordinary patience, relentless effort, and profound compassion. By "rising up early" to send "messengers," God expressed an earnestness beyond human measure, tirelessly and repeatedly calling His wayward people back to Him through His prophets. His motivation was rooted in "compassion," a deep, yearning love for His "people" whom He had covenanted with, and for "His dwelling place," the Temple, which embodied His very presence among them. This verse presents judgment not as arbitrary wrath but as the sorrowful, final outcome of persistent rebellion against repeated, compassionate divine appeals. It illustrates God's unwillingness to simply abandon His chosen people, showcasing His long-suffering character even when faced with their stubborn, scornful hearts. The tragedy of the exile is, therefore, compounded by the knowledge that it could have been averted if only His earnest warnings had been heeded.