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2 Chronicles 24:15-28:27

Why Transgress Ye the Commandments?

Lyrics · 2 Chronicles

Why Transgress Ye the Commandments?

2 Chronicles 24:15-28:27

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Why Transgress Ye the Commandments?

2 Chronicles 24:15-28:27

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About this song

This song belongs to the 2 Chronicles collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
2 Chronicles
Collection
2 Chronicles
Musical styles
World Music
[Verse 1] Jehoiada dies at one hundred thirty and is buried among the kings. Prophets warn the nation, but their testimony is rejected. Joash orders Zechariah stoned in the temple court. Joash's servants assassinate him, and Amaziah becomes king. [Pre-Chorus] The word was rare until the silence broke, Then truth stood upright in the words God spoke. [Chorus] Why Transgress Ye the Commandments, the word came like a flame, Kings could resist but could not silence the name. The prophet stood where fear had drawn the line, And heaven answered in appointed time. [Verse 2] He threatens the rebuking prophet and is then defeated by Joash of Israel. A conspiracy kills Amaziah at Lachish. Uzziah seeks God, defeats enemies, builds towers, and strengthens agriculture and armies. Uzziah enters the temple to burn incense despite priestly resistance. [Bridge] Jotham builds the high temple gate, defeats Ammon. Ahaz follows Baalim, makes images, and burns his children. Syria and Israel inflict enormous losses, but Oded secures release of Judah's captives. Ahaz seeks Assyria, adopts Damascus gods, shuts the temple. [Final Chorus] Why Transgress Ye the Commandments, the word came like a flame, Kings could resist but could not silence the name. The prophet stood where fear had drawn the line, And heaven answered in the final time. [Outro] The word went out and did not fall in vain. The prophet left the truth upon the plain.

Named in this songDamascus

About the passage

2 Chronicles 24: The king repairs the temple, then sheds blood in its court

Joash's reign begins with an almost painful promise. The child once hidden in the temple grows into a king determined to repair that same house, and after an ineffective collection system is replaced by a public chest, the work proceeds with abundance, skilled labor, and shared oversight. Yet the opening verdict contains its warning: Joash does right during the days of Jehoiada. When the old priest dies and is buried among the kings for his good work, Judah's princes gain the king's ear. The restored building remains standing while the restored allegiance collapses. Prophets are ignored, and Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, is stoned by royal command in the temple court. The Book of 2 Chronicles explicitly calls this a failure to remember Jehoiada's kindness. A small Syrian force then defeats Judah's much greater host, and Joash's own servants kill him. The burial reversal is severe: Jehoiada the priest lies among the kings; Joash the king is denied the royal sepulchres.

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2 Chronicles 25: A king brings home gods that could not defend their own people

Amaziah's reign begins with a deliberately mixed verdict: he does what is right, but not with a whole heart. Early decisions show real obedience. He limits vengeance to his father's actual killers and, when warned by a man of God, sends home a costly force of hired northern soldiers even after paying them. Victory over Edom follows, but the turning point is almost absurd in its contradiction. Amaziah brings home the gods of the people he has just defeated and bows before them. When a prophet points out that those gods could not save their own worshippers, the king threatens the prophet instead of changing course. He then welcomes other counsel and challenges Israel to war. Joash of Israel answers with the cutting image of a thistle addressing a cedar, but Amaziah refuses the warning. Defeat follows, Jerusalem is breached, treasure is removed, and hostages are taken. Fifteen further years do not revise the chapter's trajectory. Amaziah eventually dies by conspiracy, leaving the opening judgment intact: obedience was present, but allegiance did not remain whole.

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2 Chronicles 26: Strong enough to build towers, not entitled to burn incense

Uzziah's fifty-two-year reign accumulates the kinds of achievements that can make a king look almost unassailable. He rebuilds, defeats enemies, receives tribute, fortifies Jerusalem, digs wells, develops agriculture, organizes a large army, and equips the capital with ingenious defensive devices. The Book of 2 Chronicles repeatedly insists that this strength was received through help: as long as Uzziah sought the LORD, he prospered, and he was "marvellously helped, till he was strong." The final phrase becomes the hinge. Once strong, his heart is lifted to his destruction. He enters the temple to burn incense, claiming a priestly function the crown does not give him. Azariah and eighty priests withstand him, and leprosy appears on his forehead while he angrily holds the censer. The king leaves quickly and spends the rest of his life in a separate house while Jotham governs. The reign does not collapse because Uzziah failed to build enough power. It turns when power convinces him that a boundary no longer applies to him.

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