Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Chronicles 15:9 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 9. 9And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence: “And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Asa gathers all Israel into covenant renewal.”
Read It With
- 2 Chronicles 15:8–15
Read 2 Chronicles 15:9 with 15:8–15. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Asa removes idols, repairs the altar, gathers Judah and migrants from northern tribes, sacrifices, and binds the assembly to seek God with loud celebration and joy.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Asa gathers all Israel into covenant renewal,” 2 Chronicles 15:9 advances the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The response to Azariah becomes a public covenant that again claims all-Israel participation around Jerusalem. Asa's covenant responds to Azariah's call to seek and return, but its death sanction must be held beside Hezekiah's later prayer for irregular worshipers so coercion does not become the book's only model.
Read 2 Chronicles 15:8–15 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Chronicles 15:8–15 forms the complete movement “Asa gathers all Israel into covenant renewal”: Asa removes idols, repairs the altar, gathers Judah and migrants from northern tribes, sacrifices, and binds the assembly to seek God with loud celebration and joy.
Verse 8. 8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.
Verse 9. 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
Verse 10. 10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
Verse 11. 11 And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
Verse 12. 12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
Verse 13. 13 That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
Verse 14. 14 And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
Verse 15. 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.
Follow the Context
- Asa removes idols, repairs the altar, gathers Judah and migrants from northern tribes, sacrifices, and binds the assembly to seek God with loud celebration and joy.
- The response to Azariah becomes a public covenant that again claims all-Israel participation around Jerusalem.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Chronicles 15:9 does not permit the wording “And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. Covenant zeal does not authorize forced conversion, execution for belief, religious surveillance, or erasing the mixed motives of migrants.
What Remains True
Reform, prayer, victory, and prosperity never remove the need to hear correction, protect dissenters, reject coercion, and respond responsibly to illness and failure. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Asa removes idols, repairs the altar, gathers Judah and migrants from northern tribes, sacrifices, and binds the assembly to seek God with loud celebration and joy. In 2 Chronicles 15:9, the concrete line “And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and….” Test reform and success by truthfulness, noncoercion, protection of critics, and responsible care; do not turn victory, wealth, or illness into a formula about someone's faith. This response follows from the unit's own movement: Asa removes idols, repairs the altar, gathers Judah and migrants from northern tribes, sacrifices, and binds the assembly to seek God with loud celebration and joy.
Teach It Back
Explain why 2 Chronicles 15:9 gathers Judah, Benjamin, and migrants from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon. Use 15:8–15, paraphrase “And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Chronicles 15:8–15 — Asa gathers all Israel into covenant renewalSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Verse 13's death sanction belongs to an ancient covenant narrative and is ethically dangerous; it cannot govern modern religious practice.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Chronicles 15:8–15, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 15:8–15
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 2 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 2 Chronicles 15:8–15, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗