And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.

2 CHRONICLES 30:7KJV
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2 Chronicles 30:7 (KJV)

What does 2 Chronicles 30:7 mean?

2 Chronicles 30:7 warns its hearers not to repeat the unfaithfulness of earlier generations. The verse presents the desolation they could see as the result of their fathers’ and fellow Israelites’ wrongdoing against the LORD, the God their ancestors had known.

The words come from an invitation sent out under King Hezekiah to bring Israelites to Jerusalem for Passover, a feast recalling their departure from Egypt. The phrase “as ye see” points to damage and loss visible to the people receiving the message, not merely to a distant story.

The Hebrew behind 2 Chronicles 30:7

  • “trespassed” — מָעַל (maʿal): This word carries the sense of acting unfaithfully or breaking trust. Here, the wrongdoing is described as a breach of loyalty toward the LORD.
  • “desolation” — שַׁמָּה (shammah): This word can describe a ruined or deserted state that causes horror. The warning points to devastation that would have been striking to those who saw it.

Why 2 Chronicles 30:7 matters

  • The invitation addresses people with a shared history. “Your fathers” and “your brethren” connect the hearers to both earlier generations and their fellow Israelites.
  • The warning is part of a call to return, not simply an account of loss. In verse 6, the messengers urge the people to return to the LORD; verse 7 gives them a reason not to follow the course of their predecessors.
  • The passage presents the desolation as something the hearers can recognize. “As ye see” makes the warning concrete for its first audience.

Where else these words appear

“trespassed” Hebrew H4603 · used in 35 verses

  • Leviticus 5:15 If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:
  • 1 Chronicles 2:7 And the sons of Carmi; Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed.
  • Ezra 10:10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.

“desolation” Hebrew H8047 · used in 39 verses

  • Deuteronomy 28:37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
  • Jeremiah 18:16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
  • Jeremiah 49:17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.