Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 30:3
since they had been unable to keep it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator explains King Hezekiah's administrative decision to postpone the Passover to the second month. This occurs during the king's temple restoration campaign, as he and his officials address the logistical failures that prevented the original festival date.
The words — The Hebrew יָכְל֛וּ (ya.khe.Lu) translates literally to "they had been able," paired with לַ/עֲשֹׂת֖/וֹ (la./'a.so.T/o), meaning "to observe it," indicating a failure of capacity rather than refusal.
The thread — The shortage of consecrated priests recurs in 2 Chronicles 29:34, where insufficient priests force Levites to assist with sacrificial duties. The mandated Passover timing referenced in Exodus 12:6 and Exodus 12:18 establishes the "regular time" that the current logistical failures disrupted.
Why it lands — The text requires acknowledgment that ritual observance depends on functional leadership and prepared personnel. It demands that readers distinguish between divine command and human logistical capacity when evaluating religious compliance.
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
King James Version
For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 29:34 However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites had been more diligent in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.
- Exodus 12:6 You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
- Exodus 12:18 In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
- 2 Chronicles 29:17 They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of the LORD. For eight more days they consecrated the house of the LORD itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.