2 Chronicles 30:9

2Ch 30:9 For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children [shall find] compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God [is] gracious and merciful, and will not turn away [his] face from you, if ye return unto him.

Ver. 9. Your brethren … shall find compassion, &c.] A forcible reason; if but for your poor brethren and children’s sake, who shall find favour with their enemies for your piety and prayers, turn to the Lord. This because they did not, themselves also were shortly after carried captive by Shalmaneser, and never returned.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 30:9. Your brethren and your children shall find compassion, &c. — You may hope that he will turn again the captivity of your brethren that are carried away, and restore them to their own land; bringing them first to true repentance, according to the prayer of Solomon, 1Ki 8:47; and 2Ch 7:14; and then causing them to be pitied of those that have carried them away captive, according to the declaration of David, Psa 106:46.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30:9-11 The northern kingdom had been conquered by the Assyrians (2 Kgs 17:5-28), and many of its people were taken into exile in Assyria. People from other conquered lands now lived there. Most of these foreigners, as well as those Israelites left by the Assyrians, regarded the conquest of Israel as proof that the Lord—the God of Israel—was impotent. They laughed at the thought of making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to honor him.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God will not only preserve you, but through your repentance restore your brethren, which for their sins he gave into the hands of the enemies.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 9. And will not turn away his face from you] Well expressed by the Targum: "For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not cause his majesty to ascend up from among you, if ye will return to his fear." The shechinah, of which the Targumist speaks, is the dwelling of the Divine Presence among men, and the visible symbol of that presence.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) If ye turn again.—When ye return unto Jehovah, your brethren and your sons (shall become) objects of pity (rahamim, “compassion;” here that which inspires it) before their captors. (Comp. Psa_106:46, “And he made them objects of pity before all their captors;” Neh_1:11.)

Gracious and merciful.—Psa_86:15; Exo_34:6; in both places “merciful and gracious.” Neh_9:17; Neh_9:31, “gracious and merciful,” as here. (Comp. the formula of the Koran: “In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate.”)

Turn away his face.—Literally, turn aside face (a different word from “turn away” in 2Ch_30:8).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. shall find compassion] Cp. Psa_106:46 (a similar phrase in Heb.).

so that they shall come again] R.V. and shall come again.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So the posts passed from city to city, through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun,.... Through all the ten tribes, not being hindered or forbid by Hoshea king of Israel, who was one of the best of their kings, and was very willing his people should go and worship at Jerusalem if they thought fit; so that they had no excuse to make, as before, that they were forbid by their king going thither; and which it is very probable Hezekiah knew, and therefore took the freedom to send posts throughout his kingdom:

but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them; the messengers that brought the letters, the contents of which they despised, and paid no regard to; this was the behaviour of many, and probably of the greater part, but not of all, as follows.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Brethren. God sometimes spares one for the sake of another. H.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For when you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before their captors and shall return to this land Even those few who have already been exiled, for they waged war with Israel and they overwhelmed them, and they led their sons and daughters into captivity. But if you return to Him, He will grant them compassion before their captors, that they will return to this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.