Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
What does 2 Kings 17:13 mean?
Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes was but briefly related, it is in these verses largely commented upon, and the reasons of it given.
Key themes
Read with
Keep this verse inside 2 Kings 17:12-13 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on 2 Kings 17:13
God raised up a succession of prophets and seers, who repeated and enforced the warnings of the Law, and breathed into the old words a new life.
Key words
- testified
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Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers,.
- against
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Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers,.
- Israel
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Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers,.
Context in 2 Kings 17
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2 Kings 17 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as decline of Judah. Second Kings follows the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, recounts the decline of both kingdoms, and ends with Jerusalem’s fall and a faint glimmer of Davidic continuity. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prophetic witness, judgment, and exile in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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