2 Chronicles 23:19

He stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD, so that no one who was in any way unclean could enter.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The narrator records Jehoiada’s administrative decree during Joash’s coronation, positioned between the restoration of Levitical worship and the king’s procession to the royal palace.

The words — וַיַּעֵמֶד (wa-ya‘emēd) translates as “he stationed,” and שֹׁעֲרִים (šō‘ărîm) means “gatekeepers,” both specifying the personnel Jehoiada placed at the temple entrances to enforce purity restrictions.

The thread — The institutional role of temple gatekeepers appears in 1 Chronicles 9:22 and 1 Chronicles 26:1, where genealogical lists and divisional assignments document their permanent duty to guard sacred thresholds.

Why it lands — The text requires readers to recognize that access to worship demands enforced boundaries, shifting the focus from royal procession to the necessity of ritual separation before approaching the divine presence.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַֽיַּעֲמֵד֙va/i.ya.'a.Medand/ he stationed הַשּׁ֣וֹעֲרִ֔יםha./Sho.'a.Rimthe/ gatekeepers עַֽל־'al-at שַׁעֲרֵ֖יsha.'a.Rei[the] gates of בֵּ֣יתbeit[the] house of יְהוָ֑הYah.wehYahweh וְלֹֽא־ve./lo'-and/ not יָבֹ֥אya.Vo'he came טָמֵ֖אta.Me'a [person] unclean לְכָל־le./kholto/ any דָּבָֽר׃da.Varmatter

King James Version

And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.

Cross-references

1 Chronicles 9:22 The number of those chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds was 212. They were registered by genealogy in their villages. David and Samuel the seer had appointed them to their positions of trust.
1 Chronicles 26:1 These were the divisions of the gatekeepers: From the Korahites: Meshelemiah son of Kore, one of the sons of Asaph.