Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Chronicles 35:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Compares the feast with every Passover since Samuel.
Read It With
- 2 Chronicles 35:7–35:19
Compares the feast with every Passover since Samuel. Read 2 Chronicles 35:18 within 35:7–35:19. The complete unit records: Josiah, princes, and temple leaders contribute animals; priests, Levites, singers, and gatekeepers perform coordinated service; the people celebrate Passover and Unleavened Bread in a feast compared with Samuel's days.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The detailed labor and provision make the feast a collective achievement rather than the king's ceremony alone. In this exact position, the line beginning “And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days…” compares the feast with every Passover since Samuel.
Follow the Context
- Josiah, princes, and temple leaders contribute animals; priests, Levites, singers, and gatekeepers perform coordinated service; the people celebrate Passover and Unleavened Bread in a feast compared with Samuel's days.
- The detailed labor and provision make the feast a collective achievement rather than the king's ceremony alone.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days…”
In plain language: Compares the feast with every Passover since Samuel.
The line beginning “And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days…” compares the feast with every Passover since Samuel.
Why it matters: The wording carries a material literary, historical, temple, royal-power, violence, ethnic, illness, gender, exile, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The superlative comparison does not demean other Passovers, erase animal and worker cost, or make spectacle the measure of faithful worship.
What Remains True
Compares the feast with every Passover since Samuel. This concrete detail supports a bounded truth: Faithful memory tells the truth about worship and power together: it preserves covenant hope while naming labor, victims, institutional limits, human agency, and uncertainty.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because this verse compares the feast with every Passover since Samuel, keep it inside 35:7–35:19, compare its Samuel-Kings relationship honestly, protect affected people from coercion or stigma, and apply only the accountable principle the complete unit supports.
Teach It Back
Explain why 2 Chronicles 35:18 compares the feast with every Passover since Samuel. Use 35:7–35:19, paraphrase “And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Chronicles 35:7–35:19 — A meticulously supplied Passover involves all Israel presentSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
2 Chronicles 35:18 remains within this thought-unit limit: Chronicles and Kings emphasize different aspects of Josiah's Passover; the scale and comparison function theologically as well as historically.
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 35:7–35:19, 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 35:7–35:19
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 35:7–35:19, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗