The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible — 2 Chronicles 22:1

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2 Chronicles 22:1–7 — Ahaziah Reigns in Judah. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

we have a hint that Ahaziah's succession was disputed or doubtful; for where the son follows the father on the throne without opposition

K&D builds this on the plural Hifil verb; Ellicott, quoted alongside, thinks the same form proves only a change of source, so the reader should hold the inference loosely.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

This variation from the usual formula—“And Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead”—has been supposed to indicate that the succession was disputed, either Athaliah, the queen-mother, or Jehoiada, the high priest, opposing it. It is more likely that the difference of expression simply points to the use of a different source by the writer.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

it was because they had no choice, the elder brothers having been slain

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

All his older brothers having been slaughtered by the Arab marauders, the throne of Judah rightfully belonged to him as the only legitimate heir.

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Then the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram, king in his place, since the raiders who had come into the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yō·wō·šə·ḇê yə·rū·šā·lim ’eṯ- ’ă·ḥaz·yā·hū haq·qā·ṭōn ḇə·nōw way·yam·lî·ḵū taḥ·tāw kî hag·gə·ḏūḏ hab·bā lam·ma·ḥă·neh ḇā·‘ar·ḇîm hā·raḡ ḵāl hā·ri·šō·nîm ’ă·ḥaz·yā·hū ḇen- yə·hō·w·rām way·yim·lōḵ me·leḵ yə·hū·ḏāh

Word by word22 · parsed

יוֹשְׁבֵ֨יyō·wō·šə·ḇêThen the peopleH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct

yâshab: to sit down, dwell, sit as judge A Qal participle in construct: literally "the sitters of Jerusalem." The Chronicler does not say "and his son reigned in his stead" (his usual formula) but names an acting body. Cambridge: "This unusual formula is no doubt intended to call attention to the fact that the succession of the youngest son was unusual, possibly there was opposition to it."

יְרוּשָׁלִַ֜םyə·rū·šā·limof JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestineNounproperfeminine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

אֲחַזְיָ֨הוּ’ă·ḥaz·yā·hūmade AhaziahH274

√ ʼĂchazyâh — Achazjah, the name of a Jewish and an Israelite kingNounpropermasculine singular

הַקָּטֹן֙haq·qā·ṭōnthe youngestH6996

√ qâṭân — abbreviated, iArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

qâṭân: abbreviated, small, youngest The adjective is definite, haq·qā·ṭōn, "the little one." The dynasty of David is down to its smallest remaining piece, a pattern the Chronicler will press further in 22:11 with an infant.

בְנ֤וֹḇə·nōwson [of Jehoram]H1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וַיַּמְלִיכוּ֩way·yam·lî·ḵūkingH4427

√ mâlak — to reignConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

mâlak: to reign (Hifil, to cause to reign) The Hifil is the political engine of the verse and it is in human hands; the Qal at index 19 then records the bare fact that he reigned. Between the two stands the reason: every other claimant is dead. JFB: "the throne of Judah rightfully belonged to him as the only legitimate heir."

תַּחְתָּ֔יוtaḥ·tāwin his placeH8478

√ tachath — the bottom (as depressed)Prepositionthird person masculine singular

taḥtāw, "in his place": preposition plus suffix, the ordinary succession phrase.

כִּ֤יkîsinceH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

הַגְּד֔וּדhag·gə·ḏūḏthe raidersH1416

√ gᵉdûwd — a crowd (especially of soldiers)ArticleNounmasculine singular

gᵉdûwd: a crowd, especially of soldiers A raiding band, not an army. K&D takes them as "a reconnoitring party" that surprised "the camp of the men of Judah," and notes that by 2 Chronicles 21:17 they probably "took them prisoners and slew them afterwards." Ellicott records the Syriac reading: "For all the elder the troop had destroyed them."

הַבָּ֥אhab·bāwho had comeH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)ArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑הlam·ma·ḥă·nehinto the campH4264

√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Preposition-l, ArticleNouncommon singular

בָֽעַרְבִ֖יםḇā·‘ar·ḇîmwith the ArabsH6163

√ ʻĂrâbîy — an Arabian or inhabitant of Arab (iPreposition-b, ArticleNounpropermasculine plural

הָרַ֣גhā·raḡhad killedH2026

√ hârag — to smite with deadly intentVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

hârag: to smite with deadly intent Qal perfect, 3ms, agreeing with the collective gedud. The lexicon's "deadly intent" is the point Gill presses against the earlier raid: "the Philistines and Arabians only carried them away captives, but those slew them in cold blood."

כָל־ḵālallH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הָרִאשֹׁנִים֙hā·ri·šō·nîmthe older sonsH7223

√ riʼshôwn — first, in place, time or rank (as adjective or noun)ArticleAdjectivemasculine plural

riʼshôwn: first in place, time or rank The brothers are named by their precedence, which is exactly what has been taken from them. Benson supplies a motive for the slaughter: the raiders "wished to destroy all the branches of the royal family, lest, if any of them survived, they should afterward gain strength."

אֲחַזְיָ֥הוּ’ă·ḥaz·yā·hūSo AhaziahH274

√ ʼĂchazyâh — Achazjah, the name of a Jewish and an Israelite kingNounpropermasculine singular

בֶן־ḇen-sonH1121

יְהוֹרָ֖םyə·hō·w·rāmof JehoramH3088

√ Yᵉhôwrâm — Jehoram, the name of a Syrian and of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְway·yim·lōḵbecame kingH4427

√ mâlak — to reignConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

mâlak: to reign Qal consecutive imperfect, 3ms: the same root as index 6 but now intransitive. The verse opens with a city making a king and closes with the king simply reigning, the whole reign of one year already framed as something done to him.

מֶ֥לֶךְme·leḵ. . .H4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

יְהוּדָֽה׃פyə·hū·ḏāhof JudahH3063

√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-they-caused-to-reign, the-ones-dwelling-of Jerusalem, Ahaziah his-youngest son in-his-place, for all the-former-ones the-troop had-slain, the-one-having-come among the-Arabs to-the-camp; and-Ahaziah son-of-Jehoram reigned, king-of Judah.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיַּמְלִיכוּ֩ וַיַּמְלִיכוּ (way·yam·lî·ḵū, Hifil consecutive imperfect, 3mp of mâlak, H4427) is causative: the citizens caused him to reign. BSB's "made Ahaziah king" is accurate but loses that the Chronicler has abandoned his own standing formula. K&D reads the plural verb as "a hint that Ahaziah's succession was disputed or doubtful"; Ellicott thinks it "simply points to the use of a different source by the writer." Either way the throne here is conferred by a city, not inherited by a son.
יוֹשְׁבֵ֨י יוֹשְׁבֵי (yō·wō·šə·ḇê, Qal participle mp construct of yâshab, H3427) is not "the people" but "the ones sitting / dwelling of" Jerusalem. Strong's glosses the root "properly, to sit down (specifically as judge." The ones who sit in the city seat the king; the enthroning verb of v. 1 is put into the hands of those who merely sit there.
הָרִאשֹׁנִים֙ הָרִאשֹׁנִים (hā·ri·šō·nîm, H7223 riʼshôwn, "first, in place, time or rank") is rendered "the older sons" by BSB, but the noun says only "the former ones." Ellicott gives "Heb., the former ( rîshonîm )"; K&D "the earlier born." The word that elsewhere means first in rank is here a list of the dead.
הַגְּד֔וּד הַגְּדוּד (hag·gə·ḏūḏ, H1416 gᵉdûwd, "a crowd (especially of soldiers)") is singular with a singular verb hāraḡ, so the collective acts as one hand. Ellicott admits "The Hebrew is obscure for want of further details" and calls them "some party of half-savage warriors"; Gill and Geneva identify them with the Philistines of 2 Chronicles 21:16, Benson allows either reading.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

which is an ambiguous phrase; and though it doth for the most part, yet it doth not always, signify the age of the person

Poole's caution about the idiom is sound, but he uses it to defend the received "forty-two"; Gill, Barnes, Ellicott, Cambridge, Pulpit and K&D all conclude the copyist erred.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

it seems best to acknowledge a mistake of the copier, which might easily be made through a similarity of the numeral letters, forty two, for twenty two

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

An error of transcription. 2Kings 8:26 , twenty and two; and so the Syriac and Arabic: the LXX. has “twenty.” Ahaziah could not have been forty when he succeeded, because his father was only forty when he died

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Ahaziah's mother Athaliah is called the daughter, i.e., granddaughter, of Omri, as in 2 Kings 8:26 , because he was the founder of the idolatrous dynasty of the kingdom of the ten tribes.

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Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ă·ḥaz·yā·hū ’ar·bā·‘îm ū·šə·ta·yim ben- šā·nāh ḇə·mā·lə·ḵōw mā·laḵ bî·rū·šā·lim ’a·ḥaṯ wə·šā·nāh ’im·mōw wə·šêm ‘ă·ṯal·yā·hū baṯ- ‘ā·mə·rî

Word by word15 · parsed

אֲחַזְיָ֣הוּ’ă·ḥaz·yā·hūAhaziahH274

√ ʼĂchazyâh — Achazjah, the name of a Jewish and an Israelite kingNounpropermasculine singular

אַרְבָּעִ֨ים’ar·bā·‘îm[was] twenty-twoH705

√ ʼarbâʻîym — fortyNumbercommon plural

ʼarbâʻîym: forty The received number, and the unit's one open textual wound. K&D reasons from the data: Joram was thirty-two at his accession and reigned eight years, "at his death his youngest son could not be older than twenty-one or twenty-two years of age." A son of forty-two cannot outlive a father of forty.

וּשְׁתַּ֤יִםū·šə·ta·yim. . .H8147

√ shᵉnayim — twoConjunctive wawNumberfd

בֶּן־ben-years oldH1121

bên: a son, in the widest sense Here purely idiomatic, "a son of N years." Poole's second answer, and Gill's, is textual; his first is that the figure may count not the king's age but the years of the house of Omri, six plus twenty-two plus two plus twelve, "all which, put together, make up exactly these forty-two years." Gill judges that computation "impertinent," Poole prefers it. The brief preserves both.

שָׁנָה֙šā·nāh. . .H8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular

בְמָלְכ֔וֹḇə·mā·lə·ḵōwwhen he became kingH4427

√ mâlak — to reignPreposition-bVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person masculine singular

mâlak: to reign Infinitive construct under b: the reign is given as a point in time, and the next word measures it. One year is the shortest notice the Chronicler gives any Davidic king in this stretch, and the verse spends more words on his mother than on his reign.

מָלַ֖ךְmā·laḵand he reignedH4427

√ mâlak — to reignVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

בִּֽירוּשָׁלִָ֑םbî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

אַחַ֔ת’a·ḥaṯoneH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumberfeminine singular

ʼa·ḥaṯ with šā·nāh: "one year."

וְשָׁנָ֣הwə·šā·nāhyearH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Conjunctive wawNounfeminine singular

אִמּ֔וֹ’im·mōwHis mother’sH517

√ ʼêm — a mother (as the bond of the family)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וְשֵׁ֣םwə·šêmnameH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

עֲתַלְיָ֖הוּ‘ă·ṯal·yā·hūwas AthaliahH6271

√ ʻĂthalyâh — Athaljah, the name of an Israelitess and two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

ʻĂthalyâh: Athaliah Named in the formula reserved for the queen mother, and she is the only person in the verse given a lineage. Ellicott notices what is missing: "Kings adds, 'king of Israel,' which the chronicler purposely omits," and points to Micah 6:16, "The statutes of Omri," "the works of the house of Ahab."

בַּת־baṯ-the granddaughterH1323

√ bath — a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine singular construct

bath: a daughter, in the widest sense The construct binds Judah's king to Israel's worst dynasty in two words. K&D explains the choice of grandfather over father: Omri is named "because he was the founder of the idolatrous dynasty of the kingdom of the ten tribes." JFB reads it as said "simply for the purpose of intimating that she belonged to that idolatrous race."

עָמְרִֽי׃‘ā·mə·rîof OmriH6018

√ ʻOmrîy — Omri, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular

ʻOmrîy: Omri A proper name doing genealogical and theological work at once.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

A-son-of forty and-two years [was] Ahaziah in-his-becoming-king, and-one year he-reigned in-Jerusalem; and-the-name-of his-mother [was] Athaliah daughter-of Omri.

Where the English smooths the original

בֶּן־ בֶּן־שָׁנָה (ben ... šā·nāh, H1121 with H8141) is the Hebrew idiom "a son of N years," not a plain age statement. Poole makes this the whole hinge of the textual problem: the phrase "is an ambiguous phrase; and though it doth for the most part, yet it doth not always, signify the age of the person." BSB's "was twenty-two years old" is a decision about the number as well as the idiom.
אַרְבָּעִ֨ים אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁתַּיִם (ʼarbâʻîym, H705, plus H8147) reads "forty-two" in the Hebrew before us, while BSB prints "twenty-two" with 2 Kings 8:26. Barnes: "For '42' read '22'." Pulpit, Cambridge (LXX "twenty"), Ellicott ("An error of transcription") and K&D ("an orthographical error") agree, Gill after surveying every harmonisation concludes "it seems best to acknowledge a mistake of the copier." The English is a corrected text, not the received one.
בְמָלְכ֔וֹ בְמָלְכוֹ (ḇə·mā·lə·ḵōw, preposition b plus Qal infinitive construct of mâlak with 3ms suffix) is "in his reigning," a temporal infinitive, not a finite "when he became king." Geneva's gloss on the one year reads "That is, after the death of his father," which is Cambridge's regency question in miniature.
בַּת־ בַּת (baṯ, H1323 bath) is simply "daughter"; BSB's "granddaughter" is an interpretation. Pulpit: "i.e. granddaughter of Omri, as Omri was the father of Ahab." Benson notes "Grand-children are often called sons or daughters in the Scriptures." Cambridge adds that 2 Kings 8:18 calls her "daughter of Ahab," which is "more correctly" the relation.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Her influence would be used in support of the Baal worship, which was the symbol of alliance with the northern kingdom.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Those that counsel persons to do wickedly, counsel them to their destruction. It is bad enough when strangers do this, but when parents give such counsel to their own children, it is deplorable indeed!

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

The counsel of the ungodly ruins many young persons when they are setting out in the world.

Henry's entry is a single concise comment on the whole of 22:1-12 rather than a verse-by-verse note, so it is quoted here for the theme it names, not as an exposition of this clause.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

for his mother (a daughter of Ahab and the godless Jezebel) was his counsellor to do evil, i.e., led him to give himself up to the idolatry of the house of Ahab.

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Ahaziah also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in wickedness.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hū gam- hā·laḵ bə·ḏar·ḵê bêṯ ’aḥ·’āḇ kî ’im·mōw hā·yə·ṯāh yō·w·‘aṣ·tōw lə·har·šî·a‘

Word by word11 · parsed

ה֣וּאhūAhaziahH1931

√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular

hûwʼ: he, she, it Emphatic and fronted, the verse's first move. The Chronicler has just recorded of the father in 21:6 that he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; the pronoun binds son to father before either is blamed.

גַּם־gam-alsoH1571

√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction

הָלַ֔ךְhā·laḵwalkedH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

hâlak: to walk, in a great variety of applications Qal perfect. This root returns in v. 5 ("he walked also in their counsel"), which is how the unit joins private idolatry to the military alliance that kills him. Walking is the unit's whole metaphor for a life: a road already trodden, then taken.

בְּדַרְכֵ֖יbə·ḏar·ḵêin the waysH1870

√ derek — a road (as trodden)Preposition-bNouncommon plural construct

derek: a road, as trodden Plural construct, "in the ways of." Pulpit: "The mother and the house of Ahab had become a proverb and a by-word for their evil."

בֵּ֣יתbêṯof the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

bayith: a house, family, household "House of Ahab" is a dynasty, and by v. 7 the same phrase is the object of a divine sentence of cutting off. The house he walks in is the house God has marked for demolition.

אַחְאָ֑ב’aḥ·’āḇof AhabH256

√ ʼAchʼâb — Achab, the name of a king of Israel and of a prophet at BabylonNounpropermasculine singular

כִּ֥יkîforH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

אִמּ֛וֹ’im·mōwhis motherH517

√ ʼêm — a mother (as the bond of the family)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

הָיְתָ֥הhā·yə·ṯāh. . .H1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular

יֽוֹעַצְתּ֖וֹyō·w·‘aṣ·tōwwas his counselorH3289

√ yâʻats — to adviseVerbQalParticiplefeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

yâʻats: to advise (Qal participle, feminine) A feminine participle in construct with a masculine suffix: the counsellor is the mother, the counselled is the king. The Chronicler adds this clause himself. Ellicott: it is "Not in Kings; an explanatory remark added by the chronicler." In v. 4 the same participle reappears masculine plural, and the household has become a cabinet.

לְהַרְשִֽׁיעַ׃lə·har·šî·a‘in wickednessH7561

√ râshaʻ — to be (causatively, do or declare) wrongPreposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive construct

râshaʻ: to be, or causatively to do or declare, wrong Hifil infinitive of purpose. The grammar makes wickedness the aim of the advice, not its by-product. Benson: "Those that counsel persons to do wickedly, counsel them to their destruction."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

He also walked in-the-ways-of the-house-of Ahab, for his-mother, she-was his-counsel-giver to-cause-wickedness.

Where the English smooths the original

ה֣וּא הוּא גַּם (hū gam, H1931 plus H1571) puts an independent pronoun before the verb, which Hebrew does not need. Ellicott: "The pronoun is emphatic: he too, like his father. Kings: 'And he walked.'" BSB's "Ahaziah also walked" supplies the name and loses the shrug of the pronoun: this one, as well.
בְּדַרְכֵ֖י בְּדַרְכֵי (bə·ḏar·ḵê, H1870 derek, "a road (as trodden)") is plural construct: the trodden roads of Ahab's house. Benson: they are "Called their ways, not because they were the first inventors of them in these parts, but the chief establishers." The idiom is topographical before it is moral; someone else wore the path smooth.
יֽוֹעַצְתּ֖וֹ יוֹעַצְתּוֹ (yō·w·‘aṣ·tōw, Qal participle fs construct of yâʻats, H3289, with 3ms suffix) is "his counselling one," a participle naming a standing office, not the single act "advised him." With hāyəṯāh ("she was") the Hebrew states a continuing condition: she held the post.
לְהַרְשִֽׁיעַ׃ לְהַרְשִׁיעַ (lə·har·šî·a‘, Hifil infinitive construct of râshaʻ, H7561) is causative and purposive: "to make wicked, to declare guilty." BSB's "in wickedness" turns a purpose into an atmosphere. K&D reads it as counsel that "led him to give himself up to the idolatry of the house of Ahab"; Ellicott specifies that "Her influence would be used in support of the Baal worship."

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

The facile king surrendered himself wholly to the influence of his mother and her relatives. Athaliah and her son introduced a universal corruption of morals and made idolatry the religion of the court and the nation.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

He shows that it follows that the rulers are as their counsellors are and that there cannot be a good king who allows wicked counsellors.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

After the death of his father; who, whilst he lived, seduced his son by his counsel and authority, and made other evil counsellors then unnecessary.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

This phrase suggests that he acted as regent in his father’s lifetime during his father’s two years’ illness.

Cambridge's regency inference rests on this phrase alone and is not stated by the text; Geneva's note on v. 2 ("after the death of his father") points the same way, but nothing in the unit confirms a co-regency.

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And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for to his destruction they were his counselors after the death of his father.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·ya·‘aś hā·ra‘ bə·‘ê·nê Yah·weh kə·ḇêṯ ’aḥ·’āḇ kî- lōw lə·maš·ḥîṯ hêm·māh hā·yū- lōw yō·w·‘ă·ṣîm ’a·ḥă·rê mō·wṯ ’ā·ḇîw

Word by word16 · parsed

וַיַּ֧עַשׂway·ya·‘aśAnd he didH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

הָרַ֛עhā·ra‘evilH7451

√ raʻ — bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

raʻ: bad, or as a noun evil, natural or moral The definite article makes this the standing Deuteronomic charge rather than a fresh accusation. The comparison that follows, "like the house of Ahab," supplies its content: Ahaziah is measured against a northern dynasty, not against David.

בְּעֵינֵ֥יbə·‘ê·nêin the sightH5869

√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdc

ʻayin: an eye, literally or figuratively Construct dual under b. The Chronicler's habitual phrase for divine assessment; it sets up v. 7, where what God sees he also arranges.

יְהוָ֖הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

Yᵉhôvâh: the divine name The one name in this verse that is not part of a human genealogy; everything else here is kinship, mother and house and father and relatives. The covenant name occurs exactly twice in these seven verses, here and at v. 7, and the two occurrences are the unit's hinge: in v. 4 YHWH is the one whose eyes assess the king, in v. 7 he is the one who anointed the man who ends him. Assessment and agency belong to the same name.

כְּבֵ֣יתkə·ḇêṯas the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-kNounmasculine singular construct

אַחְאָ֑ב’aḥ·’āḇof Ahab [had done]H256

√ ʼAchʼâb — Achab, the name of a king of Israel and of a prophet at BabylonNounpropermasculine singular

כִּי־kî-forH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

לֽוֹ׃lōwto his

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

לְמַשְׁחִ֥יתlə·maš·ḥîṯdestructionH4889

√ mashchîyth — destructive, iPreposition-lNounmasculine singular

mashchîyth: destructive, destruction The noun names the outcome before the narrative reaches it, in v. 7 and following. Ellicott marks the same construction at 2 Chronicles 20:23, where a coalition destroys itself; K&D cross-refers the identical phrase. The counsel is labelled by its end, not by its content.

הֵ֜מָּהhêm·māhtheyH1992

√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural

הָֽיוּ־hā·yū-wereH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

ל֣וֹlōwhis

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

יֽוֹעֲצִ֗יםyō·w·‘ă·ṣîmcounselorsH3289

√ yâʻats — to adviseVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

yâʻats: to advise (Qal participle, masculine plural) The plural completes the movement begun in v. 3: one counsellor, then many. JFB: "The facile king surrendered himself wholly to the influence of his mother and her relatives." Geneva draws the political rule: "there cannot be a good king who allows wicked counsellors."

אַחֲרֵ֛י’a·ḥă·rêafterH310

√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition

ʼa·ḥă·rê, "after": preposition of sequence, and the hinge of Cambridge's regency suggestion.

מ֥וֹתmō·wṯthe deathH4194

√ mâveth — death (natural or violent)Nounmasculine singular construct

mâveth: death, natural or violent The death of the father is given as the moment the counsel took hold. Poole and Benson both read the father as having been his own son's corrupter while alive, so that "other evil counsellors" were until then unnecessary; the new advisers fill a vacancy rather than create one.

אָבִ֖יו’ā·ḇîwof his fatherH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-did the-evil in-the-eyes-of YHWH like-the-house-of Ahab, for to-him for-destruction they were, to-him counsellors, after the-death-of his-father.

Where the English smooths the original

הָרַ֛ע הָרַע (hā·ra‘, H7451 raʻ, with the article) is "the evil," a definite and known quantity, not simply "evil." The Chronicler's formula assumes a fixed standard already on record; the article points back to the house named in the same breath.
בְּעֵינֵ֥י בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה (bə·‘ê·nê, H5869 ʻayin, "an eye") is "in the eyes of YHWH." BSB's "in the sight of the LORD" is idiomatic English but removes the organ. The verdict is not an abstract standard but a gaze, and this is the only occurrence of the covenant name in the unit apart from v. 7, where the same LORD is the one who anointed Jehu.
לְמַשְׁחִ֥ית לְמַשְׁחִית (lə·maš·ḥîṯ, H4889 mashchîyth, "destructive, i.e. destruction") with the preceding lōw gives a doubled construction. Ellicott: "Literally, to destruction to him, the same peculiar expression being used which occurred in 2Chronicles 20:23." BSB's "for to his destruction" is as close as English gets; the Hebrew stacks the pronoun twice, once for the ruin and once for the counsel.
יֽוֹעֲצִ֗ים יוֹעֲצִים (yō·w·‘ă·ṣîm, Qal participle mp of yâʻats) is the masculine plural of the very participle used of the mother in v. 3. English uses the same word "counselor(s)" in both verses and hides the shift; in Hebrew a single feminine counsellor has become a plural body of them. Gill identifies them: "some of the family or court of the king of Israel, that his mother sent for after his father's death."

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

An allusion to Psalm 1:1 . He became a close partner in the politics of his ally, and joined in his expedition against the Syrians.

Ellicott asserts the Psalm 1:1 allusion; the Verifier returned no shared-lexeme basis for it in this unit, so the thread below is flagged rather than confirmed.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

So the evil example of even the good lives after them. See Jehoshaphat ( 1 Kings 22:29 ; 2 Chronicles 18:8 ) followed by his son Jehoram first ( 2 Kings 3:9 ), and now by his grandson Ahaziah.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

whence it is clear beyond all doubt, that Ahaziah entered along with Joram, Ahab's son, upon the war which was to bring about the destruction of Ahab's house, and to cost him his life, on the advice of Ahab's relations.

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Ahaziah also followed their counsel and went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the Arameans wounded Joram.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

gam hā·laḵ ba·‘ă·ṣā·ṯām way·yê·leḵ ’eṯ- yə·hō·w·rām ben- ’aḥ·’āḇ me·leḵ yiś·rā·’êl lam·mil·ḥā·māh ‘al- ḥă·zā·’êl me·leḵ- ’ă·rām bə·rā·mō·wṯ gil·‘āḏ hā·ram·mîm way·yak·kū ’eṯ- yō·w·rām

Word by word21 · parsed

גַּ֣םgam[Ahaziah] alsoH1571

√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction

הָלַךְ֒hā·laḵfollowedH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

hâlak: to walk Qal perfect, the same form as v. 3. The Chronicler's argument is built by repeating this verb rather than by explaining: walked in the ways of Ahab's house, walked in their counsel, went out with Joram. K&D reads the sentence as the proof "that Ahaziah entered along with Joram, Ahab's son, upon the war," on the advice of Ahab's relations.

בַּעֲצָתָם֮ba·‘ă·ṣā·ṯāmtheir counselH6098

√ ʻêtsâh — advicePreposition-bNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural

ʻêtsâh: advice The noun to the participle of vv. 3 and 4. What was a domestic relationship in v. 3 is here a state policy with an army attached.

וַיֵּלֶךְ֩way·yê·leḵand wentH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-withH854

√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearPreposition

יְהוֹרָ֨םyə·hō·w·rāmJoramH3088

√ Yᵉhôwrâm — Jehoram, the name of a Syrian and of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

בֶּן־ben-sonH1121

אַחְאָ֜ב’aḥ·’āḇof AhabH256

√ ʼAchʼâb — Achab, the name of a king of Israel and of a prophet at BabylonNounpropermasculine singular

מֶ֣לֶךְme·leḵkingH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לyiś·rā·’êlof IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

לַמִּלְחָמָ֛הlam·mil·ḥā·māhto fightH4421

√ milchâmâh — a battle (iPreposition-l, ArticleNounfeminine singular

milchâmâh: a battle Definite and under l: "to the battle." Ramoth-gilead is the place where Jehoshaphat, this king's great-grandfather, had already been drawn into an Ahabite war. Pulpit traces the whole chain: Jehoshaphat, then Jehoram, "and now by his grandson Ahaziah."

עַל־‘al-againstH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

חֲזָאֵ֥לḥă·zā·’êlHazaelH2371

√ Chăzâʼêl — Chazael, a king of SyriaNounpropermasculine singular

Chăzâʼêl: Hazael, king of Syria JFB notes the external confirmation: the names of Jehu and Hazael "have both been found on Assyrian sculptures."

מֶֽלֶךְ־me·leḵ-kingH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

אֲרָ֖ם’ă·rāmof AramH758

√ ʼĂrâm — Aram or Syria, and its inhabitantsNounproperfeminine singular

בְּרָמ֣וֹתbə·rā·mō·wṯat Ramoth-gileadH7418

√ Râmôwth — Ramoth-Negeb or Ramath-Negeb, a place in PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

גִּלְעָ֑דgil·‘āḏ. . .H1568

√ Gilʻâd — Gilad, a region East of the JordanNounproperfeminine singular

הָֽרַמִּ֖יםhā·ram·mîmBut the ArameansH7421

√ rammîy — a Ramite, iArticleNounpropermasculine plural

rammîy: a Ramite A textual crux carried in one letter. Every commentator in the brief reads it as Arameans with 2 Kings 8:28; the consonants as transmitted say something else, and the LXX guessed "archers" from a different root.

וַיַּכּ֥וּway·yak·kūwoundedH5221

√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

nâkâh: to strike, lightly or severely Hifil, third person plural: the blow that begins the chain ending in two royal deaths. The same root returns in v. 6 as the noun makkâh, "a wound."

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

יוֹרָֽם׃yō·w·rāmJoramH3141

√ Yôwrâm — Joram, the name of three Israelites and one SyrianNounpropermasculine singular

Yôwrâm: Joram The short form, H3141, distinct in Strong's from H3088 used earlier in the same verse.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Also he-walked in-their-counsel, and-he-went with Jehoram son-of-Ahab king-of-Israel to-the-battle against Hazael king-of-Aram at-Ramoth-gilead; and-the-Ramites struck Joram.

Where the English smooths the original

בַּעֲצָתָם֮ גַּם הָלַךְ בַּעֲצָתָם (hā·laḵ ba·‘ă·ṣā·ṯām, H1980 with H6098 ʻêtsâh, "advice") repeats the walking verb of v. 3, so the Hebrew reads "he walked also in their counsel." BSB's "followed their counsel" is smoother and drops the repetition that ties idolatry to foreign policy. Ellicott hears in the phrase "An allusion to Psalm 1:1."
הָֽרַמִּ֖ים הָרַמִּים (hā·ram·mîm, H7421 rammîy, "a Ramite") is not the ordinary word for Arameans. Ellicott: "Heb., hārammîm, instead of 'Arammîm' (Kings)." K&D calls it "a contraction for" the fuller spelling; Pulpit says "The initial radical here should be א." The LXX read it as a participle and rendered "archers." BSB's "the Arameans" is the corrected reading, not the consonants before us.
וַיַּכּ֥וּ וַיַּכּוּ (way·yak·kū, Hifil consecutive imperfect of nâkâh, H5221, "to strike (lightly or severely)") is broad: to strike, with the severity unspecified. BSB's "wounded" is decided from v. 6 and from Kings. Cambridge notes the correction itself: "R.V. wounded Joram (as 2 Kin.)."
יוֹרָֽם׃ The verse spells the Israelite king's name twice and differently: יְהוֹרָם (yə·hō·w·rām, H3088) at the head and יוֹרָם (yō·w·rām, H3141) at the close. English prints "Joram" for both. The long and short forms of the same name are separate Strong's entries, and the Chronicler uses both within one sentence.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

R.V. (with 2 Kin.) of the wounds . A.V. gives a misleading translation of a corrupt Heb. text.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

A mistake for “Ahaziah.” So Kings, LXX., Vulg., Syriac, Arabic, and some Hebrew MSS. Went down. —Whether from Ramah or Jerusalem is not clear.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

and Ahaziah went down to visit the wounded Joram, his brother-in-law. Whether he went from Jerusalem or from the loftily-situated Ramah cannot be with certainty determined

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

it is here signalized that in that very deed of his, Providence brought it about that Jehu lighted upon the track of him (vers. 7-9), and he met his end.

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So he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yā·šāḇ ḇə·yiz·rə·‘el lə·hiṯ·rap·pê kî ham·mak·kîm ’ă·šer hik·ku·hū ḇā·rā·māh bə·hil·lā·ḥă·mōw ’eṯ- ḥă·zā·h·’êl me·leḵ ’ă·rām wa·‘ă·zar·yā·hū ḇen- yə·hō·w·rām me·leḵ yə·hū·ḏāh yā·raḏ bə·yiz·rə·‘el lir·’ō·wṯ ’eṯ- yə·hō·w·rām ben- ’aḥ·’āḇ kî- hū ḥō·leh

Word by word28 · parsed

וַיָּ֜שָׁבway·yā·šāḇSo he returnedH7725

√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

shûwb: to turn back, to return Qal consecutive imperfect. Ellicott identifies the unnamed subject: "And he, i.e., Joram." The wounded king withdraws, and that withdrawal creates the visit that destroys Judah's king.

בְיִזְרְעֶ֗אלḇə·yiz·rə·‘elto JezreelH3157

√ Yizrᵉʻêʼl — Jizreel, the name of two places in Palestine and of two IsraelitesPreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

לְהִתְרַפֵּ֣אlə·hiṯ·rap·pêto recoverH7495

√ râphâʼ — properly, to mend (by stitching), iPreposition-lVerbHitpaelInfinitive construct

râphâʼ: properly, to mend by stitching, to heal The Hitpael is causative-reflexive. Jezreel is chosen for it because, as K&D notes, it was "the summer residence of the Ahabic royal house," and as Cambridge notes, Ahab had a house there, remembered chiefly for Naboth's vineyard. The place of healing is the place of the dynasty's oldest crime.

כִּ֤יkîfromH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

kîy: because, for, that The unit's clearest textual fault: a causal conjunction where the sense needs the preposition "from." Ellicott, Cambridge and K&D all read min with 2 Kings 8:29, and several manuscripts have it.

הַמַּכִּים֙ham·mak·kîmthe woundsH4347

√ makkâh — a woundArticleNounfeminine plural

makkâh: a wound Ellicott notes that the word in this form "only occurs besides in 2Kings 8:29; 2Kings 9:15," that is, in the two parallel notices of the same injury. It is very nearly a word belonging to this one event.

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

הִכֻּ֣הוּhik·ku·hūthey had inflicted on himH5221

√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)VerbHifilPerfectthird person common pluralthird person masculine singular

בָֽרָמָ֔הḇā·rā·māhat RamahH7414

√ Râmâh — Ramah, the name of four places in PalestinePreposition-b, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular

בְּהִלָּ֣חֲמ֔וֹbə·hil·lā·ḥă·mōwwhen he foughtH3898

√ lâcham — to feed onPreposition-bVerbNifalInfinitive constructthird person masculine singular

lâcham: to fight, to do battle Nifal infinitive construct with suffix, "in his fighting." The Nifal here is the ordinary stem for engaging in battle rather than a passive.

אֶת־’eṯ-againstH854

√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearPreposition

חֲזָהאֵ֖לḥă·zā·h·’êlHazaelH2371

√ Chăzâʼêl — Chazael, a king of SyriaNounpropermasculine singular

מֶ֣לֶךְme·leḵkingH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

אֲרָ֑ם’ă·rāmof AramH758

√ ʼĂrâm — Aram or Syria, and its inhabitantsNounproperfeminine singular

וַעֲזַרְיָ֨הוּwa·‘ă·zar·yā·hūThen AhaziahH5838

√ ʻĂzaryâh — Azarjah, the name of nineteen IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

ʻĂzaryâh: Azariah A proper name that does not belong to this king. Every commentator in the brief corrects it to Ahaziah, and the versions do so too; the note is kept here because BSB silently carries the correction into the English.

בֶן־ḇen-sonH1121

יְהוֹרָ֜םyə·hō·w·rāmof JehoramH3088

√ Yᵉhôwrâm — Jehoram, the name of a Syrian and of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

מֶ֣לֶךְme·leḵkingH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct

יְהוּדָ֗הyə·hū·ḏāhof JudahH3063

√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

יָרַ֡דyā·raḏwent downH3381

√ yârad — to descend (literally, to go downwardsVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

yârad: to descend, to go down Geographically true, Jerusalem or Ramah down into the plain of Jezreel, and the Chronicler's whole point. K&D weighs the itinerary honestly and concludes the starting point "cannot be with certainty determined."

בְּיִזְרְעֶ֖אלbə·yiz·rə·‘elto JezreelH3157

√ Yizrᵉʻêʼl — Jizreel, the name of two places in Palestine and of two IsraelitesPreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

לִרְא֞וֹתlir·’ō·wṯto visitH7200

√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

râʼâh: to see An errand of courtesy, in the plainest verb there is. Pulpit reads the visit as made "out of compassion in some sort," which is why the next verse is so striking: nothing in the deed itself looks like judgment.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

יְהוֹרָ֧םyə·hō·w·rāmJoramH3088

√ Yᵉhôwrâm — Jehoram, the name of a Syrian and of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

בֶּן־ben-sonH1121

אַחְאָ֛ב’aḥ·’āḇof AhabH256

√ ʼAchʼâb — Achab, the name of a king of Israel and of a prophet at BabylonNounpropermasculine singular

כִּי־kî-becauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

הֽוּא׃hū[Joram]H1931

√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular

חֹלֶ֥הḥō·lehhad been woundedH2470

√ châlâh — properly, to be rubbed or wornVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

châlâh: properly, to be rubbed or worn, to be sick A Qal participle, the state Joram is in. BSB's "had been wounded" harmonises with v. 5; the Hebrew word is the general one for being worn down, and Geneva's older English simply reads "because he was sick."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-returned to-Jezreel to-get-himself-healed, for the-blows which they-had-struck-him at-Ramah in-his-fighting against Hazael king-of-Aram; and-Azariah son-of-Jehoram king-of-Judah went-down to-Jezreel to-see Jehoram son-of-Ahab, for he [was] sick.

Where the English smooths the original

לְהִתְרַפֵּ֣א לְהִתְרַפֵּא (lə·hiṯ·rap·pê, Hitpael infinitive construct of râphâʼ, H7495, "properly, to mend (by stitching)") is reflexive: to have oneself mended. K&D renders it "to let himself be cured of his strokes (wounds)." BSB's "to recover" makes it something that happens to him; the Hebrew stem makes it something he goes somewhere to have done.
כִּ֤י כִּי הַמַּכִּים (kî, H3588, plus H4347 makkâh) reads "because the wounds," which Ellicott says "makes no sense": "Ki, 'because,' has originated out of min, 'from.'" K&D is blunter, calling the phrase an error for the reading of 2 Kings 8:29, "which indeed is the reading of several Codd." Cambridge: the older English "gives a misleading translation of a corrupt Heb. text." BSB's "from the wounds" quietly adopts the emendation.
וַעֲזַרְיָ֨הוּ וַעֲזַרְיָהוּ (wa·‘ă·zar·yā·hū, H5838 ʻĂzaryâh) is a different name from the Ahaziah of vv. 1 to 5: the consonants say Azariah. Ellicott: "A mistake for 'Ahaziah.'" K&D: "an orthographical error." Pulpit offers the sense of both names, "held" or "upheld of the Lord." BSB prints "Ahaziah" and the reader never meets the variant.
לִרְא֞וֹת לִרְאוֹת (lir·’ō·wṯ, Qal infinitive construct of râʼâh, H7200, "to see") is literally "to see," and BSB's "to visit" supplies the social occasion. The plain verb matters: this act of going to look at a wounded kinsman is the very act v. 7 says was from God.
בָֽרָמָ֔ה בָרָמָה (ḇā·rā·māh, H7414 Râmâh) is a shorter place name than the בְּרָמוֹת (H7418) of v. 5, and Cambridge simply equates them: "Ramah ] i.e. Ramoth-gilead." BSB keeps both spellings, so the English reader sees two names and no note.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The destruction of Ahaziah was of God - i. e. his untimely end was a judgment upon him for his idolatry.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

By this we see that nothing can come to any but by God's providence and as he has appointed, and therefore he causes everything to serve his purposes.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

Of his appointing; it was according to his purpose and decree, and was brought about by his overruling Providence, ordering the occasion and manner of it very justly for his sins

source ↗

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

It thus came to pass that the three chief representatives of the house of Ahab—Joram, Jezebel, and Ahaziah—were involved in one catastrophe of ruin; Athaliah, however, escaped for the time.

source ↗

Ahaziah’s downfall came from God when he went to visit Joram. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ă·ḥaz·yā·hū tə·ḇū·saṯ hā·yə·ṯāh ū·mê·’ĕ·lō·hîm lā·ḇō·w ’el- yō·w·rām ū·ḇə·ḇō·’ōw yā·ṣā ‘im- yə·hō·w·rām ’el- yê·hū ḇen- nim·šî ’ă·šer Yah·weh mə·šā·ḥōw lə·haḵ·rîṯ ’eṯ- bêṯ ’aḥ·’āḇ

Word by word22 · parsed

אֲחַזְיָ֔הוּ’ă·ḥaz·yā·hūAhaziah’sH274

√ ʼĂchazyâh — Achazjah, the name of a Jewish and an Israelite kingNounpropermasculine singular

תְּבוּסַ֣תtə·ḇū·saṯdownfallH8395

√ tᵉbûwçâh — a treading down, iNounfeminine singular construct

tᵉbûwçâh: a treading down A single occurrence in the Hebrew Bible, sourced as such by both Ellicott and K&D; Ellicott compares the related mebûsah at Isaiah 22:5. A king's end is described with a word normally at home under a foot, and the Chronicler builds a whole theology of providence on that one noun.

הָיְתָה֙hā·yə·ṯāhcameH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular

hâyâh: to exist, to come to pass Feminine perfect, agreeing with tebusah. The verse says the downtreading was, from God, before it narrates how.

וּמֵֽאֱלֹהִ֗יםū·mê·’ĕ·lō·hîmfrom GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseConjunctive waw, Preposition-mNounmasculine plural

ʼĕlôhîym: God Under min, "from God," the source clause placed first. Geneva draws the general doctrine from this one phrase: "nothing can come to any but by God's providence and as he has appointed." Barnes reads it narrowly and morally: "his untimely end was a judgment upon him for his idolatry." Both readings are in the brief, and they do not cancel each other.

לָב֖וֹאlā·ḇō·wwhen he wentH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

bôwʼ: to go or come Qal infinitive under l, then repeated in v. 7 as ū·ḇə·ḇō·’ōw, "and in his coming." The verb of the courtesy visit in v. 6 is now the verb of the appointment. Nothing in the action changes; its description does.

אֶל־’el-to visitH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

יוֹרָ֑םyō·w·rāmJoramH3141

√ Yôwrâm — Joram, the name of three Israelites and one SyrianNounpropermasculine singular

וּבְבֹא֗וֹū·ḇə·ḇō·’ōwWhen Ahaziah arrivedH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-bVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person masculine singular

יָצָ֤אyā·ṣāhe went outH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

עִם־‘im-withH5973

√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition

יְהוֹרָם֙yə·hō·w·rāmJoramH3088

√ Yᵉhôwrâm — Jehoram, the name of a Syrian and of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

ʼel, "to": direction, not hostility, as Pulpit and Ellicott both insist.

יֵה֣וּאyê·hūmeet JehuH3058

√ Yêhûwʼ — Jehu, the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

Yêhûwʼ: Jehu The man Judah's king walks out to greet. K&D explains the Chronicler's silence about Jehu's conspiracy: it "did not belong to the plan of the Chronicle to narrate the history of Israel," so the coup appears only as the instrument of a divine dispensation.

בֶן־ḇen-sonH1121

נִמְשִׁ֔יnim·šîof NimshiH5250

√ Nimshîy — Nimshi, the (grand-) father of JehuNounpropermasculine singular

Nimshîy: Nimshi, grandfather of Jehu A rare name, in only five verses, and the hinge of this unit's firmest cross-reference: Jehu son of Nimshi is named in the commission given at 1 Kings 19:16. Ellicott notes the looseness of "son": "i.e., grandson. Jehu was son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi."

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerwhomH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֔הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

מְשָׁח֣וֹmə·šā·ḥōwhad anointedH4886

√ mâshach — to rub with oil, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular

mâshach: to rub with oil, to anoint The office is real and God-given, and its content here is demolition. Gill records the chain of agency precisely: Jehu was "raised up to be king of Israel for that purpose," the Targum credits Elijah, "but it was not Elijah, but a prophet by the order of Elisha, that anointed him," and because it was done at the LORD's direction it is here "ascribed to him."

לְהַכְרִ֖יתlə·haḵ·rîṯto destroyH3772

√ kârath — to cut (off, down or asunder)Preposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive construct

kârath: to cut off, down or asunder Hifil infinitive of purpose. The house that Ahaziah walked in (v. 3), imitated (v. 4), allied with (v. 5) and visited (v. 6) is the house under sentence of cutting off, and he is standing inside it when the sentence falls.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

בֵּ֥יתbêṯthe houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

bayith: a house, family, dynasty The unit's last two words repeat v. 3's "house of Ahab." Ellicott counts the casualties: "the three chief representatives of the house of Ahab, Joram, Jezebel, and Ahaziah, were involved in one catastrophe of ruin; Athaliah, however, escaped for the time."

אַחְאָֽב׃’aḥ·’āḇof AhabH256

√ ʼAchʼâb — Achab, the name of a king of Israel and of a prophet at BabylonNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-from-God was the-down-treading-of Ahaziah, to-come to Joram; and-in-his-coming he-went-out with Jehoram to Jehu son-of-Nimshi, whom YHWH had-anointed to-cut-off the-house-of Ahab.

Where the English smooths the original

תְּבוּסַ֣ת תְּבוּסַת (tə·ḇū·saṯ, H8395 tᵉbûwçâh, "a treading down") is a trampling, not a stumble. Ellicott: "'Downtreading' ( tebûsah ) occurs here only," and K&D calls it "a formation which occurs here only." Cambridge prefers "ruin, or downfall," LXX καταστροφή. BSB's "downfall" is the mildest of the options for a word the Hebrew Bible uses exactly once.
וּמֵֽאֱלֹהִ֗ים וּמֵאֱלֹהִים (ū·mê·’ĕ·lō·hîm, waw plus preposition min plus H430) stands first in the clause: "and from God was." Ellicott gives the word order: "Literally, And from God came the downtreading of Ahaziah, so that he went to Joram." BSB's "came from God" is correct but puts the king first; the Hebrew puts the source first.
אֶל־ אֶל־יֵהוּא (ʼel, H413) is the ordinary preposition of direction, "to Jehu." Pulpit: it "need intend nothing more than" meeting him, "not to meet him hostilely," and Ellicott agrees: "Rather, unto Jehu." BSB's "to meet Jehu" is right; older English "against Jehu" read a hostility the particle does not carry.
לְהַכְרִ֖ית לְהַכְרִית (lə·haḵ·rîṯ, Hifil infinitive construct of kârath, H3772, "to cut (off, down or asunder)") is the verb of cutting: the same root used for cutting a covenant is here used for cutting off a dynasty. BSB's "to destroy" loses the blade in the word.
מְשָׁח֣וֹ מְשָׁחוֹ (mə·šā·ḥōw, Qal perfect of mâshach, H4886, "to rub with oil") with a suffix: YHWH anointed him. The physical sense of the root, rubbing with oil, is worth keeping, because the man so treated is here commissioned not to bless but to demolish.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A throne nobody else was left to take — 22:1-2

The Chronicler drops his own formula. Where he elsewhere writes that a son reigned in his father's place, here a plural Hifil, וַיַּמְלִיכוּ, puts the verb in the hands of "the ones dwelling of Jerusalem." K&D takes that as "a hint that Ahaziah's succession was disputed or doubtful," and Cambridge agrees that the unusual formula "is no doubt intended to call attention to the fact that the succession of the youngest son was unusual, possibly there was opposition to it." Ellicott dissents: the difference "simply points to the use of a different source by the writer." Pulpit cuts past the dispute to the grim arithmetic, that they appointed the youngest "because they had no choice," and JFB says the same from the legal side, that the throne "rightfully belonged to him as the only legitimate heir." The reason is given in a subordinate clause whose subject is a raiding band: H1416 gedud, a crowd of soldiers, singular, acting with one deadly verb. K&D reconstructs "a reconnoitring party" that surprised the camp of Judah; Gill and Geneva name them Philistines from 21:16; Benson allows either and supplies the motive, to leave no branch of the royal family alive. Then v. 2, where the received text reads forty-two and the English reads twenty-two. Barnes states it flatly, Pulpit and Ellicott call it transcriptional, K&D shows the impossibility from the father's own age, and Gill, after reviewing every attempted harmonisation, concludes that "it seems best to acknowledge a mistake of the copier." Poole is the honest holdout: the Hebrew idiom "a son of forty-two years" is genuinely "an ambiguous phrase," and he prefers to count the years of the house of Omri. The verse then spends its remaining words not on the reign, which lasted a year, but on the mother, and it traces her to Omri rather than Ahab because, as K&D says, Omri "was the founder of the idolatrous dynasty."

ii. One counsellor, then a cabinet — 22:3-4

Verse 3 opens with a pronoun Hebrew does not need. Ellicott: "The pronoun is emphatic: he too, like his father." Then the verb hâlak (H1980) and the plural of derek (H1870), "a road as trodden": the roads of Ahab's house were worn smooth by others, and Benson is careful that they are called Ahab's ways "not because they were the first inventors of them in these parts, but the chief establishers." The explanatory clause is the Chronicler's own addition; Ellicott marks it as "Not in Kings; an explanatory remark added by the chronicler." Its grammar is exact: a feminine singular participle of yâʻats (H3289) in construct with a masculine suffix, so the mother holds a standing office, and the purpose infinitive לְהַרְשִׁיעַ is Hifil, to cause wickedness. Ellicott specifies the content, "the Baal worship, which was the symbol of alliance with the northern kingdom"; K&D says the counsel "led him to give himself up to the idolatry of the house of Ahab"; Poole's whole note on the verse is four words about Athaliah, "Being a crafty and au imperious woman." In v. 4 the same participle returns masculine and plural, and a family relationship has become a government. Gill identifies the new advisers as "some of the family or court of the king of Israel, that his mother sent for after his father's death." JFB calls the king "facile" and charges the pair with making "idolatry the religion of the court and the nation." Geneva turns it into a constitutional maxim: "there cannot be a good king who allows wicked counsellors." Ellicott notes that the doubled Hebrew of the second half, "to destruction to him," is the same peculiar expression as 2 Chronicles 20:23, so the counsel is labelled by its outcome before the outcome is told. Poole and Benson both add that the father had done this work himself while he lived; Cambridge, on "after the death of his father," floats a regency during the father's illness, which the text does not state.

iii. The courtesy that God had appointed — 22:5-7

Verse 5 repeats the verb of v. 3: he walked also in their counsel. Ellicott hears "An allusion to Psalm 1:1" and describes the result, that "he became a close partner in the politics of his ally." K&D draws out what the sentence is doing: it makes plain "beyond all doubt" that Ahaziah entered the war "on the advice of Ahab's relations." Pulpit sets the road in three generations, Jehoshaphat at Ramoth-gilead, then Jehoram, "and now by his grandson Ahaziah," and adds the general rule that the evil example of even good men outlives them. JFB notes that Jehu and Hazael have both been found named on Assyrian sculptures, which is as close as this unit comes to an external witness. Verse 6 is where the transmitted text is visibly damaged. כִּי stands where the sense needs "from"; Ellicott says the Hebrew as it stands "makes no sense," K&D calls the phrase an error for the reading of Kings that "indeed is the reading of several Codd.," and Cambridge says the older English "gives a misleading translation of a corrupt Heb. text." The king's own name appears as Azariah, which Ellicott calls "A mistake for 'Ahaziah'" and K&D "an orthographical error"; Pulpit notes both names mean "held" or "upheld of the Lord." The Hitpael לְהִתְרַפֵּא, from a root that properly means to mend by stitching, sends Joram to Jezreel to have himself mended, and Cambridge remembers what Ahab's house at Jezreel is famous for, Naboth's vineyard. The errand of Judah's king is stated in the plainest verb available, râʼâh, to see. Then v. 7 renames the whole journey. תְּבוּסַת (H8395), a treading down, occurs here only, as both Ellicott and K&D record, and Cambridge prefers "ruin, or downfall." The clause puts its source first: from God. Barnes reads the judgment morally, "a judgment upon him for his idolatry"; Geneva reads it doctrinally, that "nothing can come to any but by God's providence"; Gill holds both, "according to his purpose and decree," and "very justly for his sins." Pulpit points out that the Chronicler chose to signalize precisely this, that in the very deed of compassion "Providence brought it about that Jehu lighted upon the track of him." The last clause names the other anointing in the story: Jehu, son of Nimshi (H5250, a name in only five verses), whom YHWH had mâshach, rubbed with oil, in order to kârath, cut off, the house of Ahab. Gill traces that anointing accurately against the Targum, which credits Elijah: "it was not Elijah, but a prophet by the order of Elisha, that anointed him." Judah's king walks out of a sickroom and into the path of a man commissioned to demolish the family he had spent his one year imitating.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. The unit is built on two repeated words, not on a plot. Hâlak, to walk, carries the moral thread: he walked in the ways of Ahab's house (v. 3), he walked in their counsel (v. 5), he went with Joram, he went down to Jezreel, he went out to Jehu. Yâʻats, to counsel, carries the causal thread, and it grows: one feminine participle in v. 3, a masculine plural in v. 4, a policy with an army in v. 5. Read that way, 22:1-7 is not a story about a bad king so much as an anatomy of inherited counsel hardening into a road, and a road walked to its end.

Two things then have to be held together without softening either, because the text refuses to release either one. The first is that Ahaziah is not excused. The emphatic pronoun in v. 3, "he too," charges him personally, and v. 4 says he did the definite evil in the eyes of YHWH, with the eyes left in. The second is v. 7, which says the trampling of Ahaziah was from God, and says it before it says anything else in the clause. Geneva takes that to the doctrine of providence; Barnes takes it to the desert of idolatry. The Chronicler seems to want both, and he makes his point through the most ordinary action in the unit: a young king going to look in on a wounded relative. Nothing about the errand looks like a verdict. Pulpit sees the craft of it, that the writer signalizes the visit itself as the means. ⚙ If that is right, then providence in this passage is not an override of the man's will but the appointed meeting of a road he chose with a commission God had already given. The commission is the quieter half of the unit and worth its own weight: Jehu is mâshach, anointed, for the express purpose of cutting off a house. Judah's king dies as collateral in the execution of a sentence passed on Israel's dynasty, because he had made himself at home in it.

What the unit will not license is either fatalism or the comfortable idea that bad advice is merely unfortunate. And there is one sober limit on all of this: the Chronicler wrote from within the promise to David, and the very next verses in his own chapter show why the dynasty's near-extinction here matters. Where this reading goes beyond the sourced commentary, it is marked ⚙ and should be tested against the text and against better readers.

The counsel he inherited became the road he chose, and the road he chose was the road God had already appointed.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The anointing spoken before the king was born: Jehu son of Nimshi verbal / quotation: confirmed

The last clause of v. 7 says YHWH had already anointed (מְשָׁחוֹ, mâshach, H4886) Jehu son of Nimshi (H5250) to cut off the house of Ahab. That commission is not new here. The Verifier returns 1 Kings 19:16 sharing all three of the relevant lexemes, including the patronymic Nimshi, which the whole Hebrew Bible uses in only five verses. Gill, K&D, Pulpit and Ellicott all route the actual anointing through 2 Kings 9:1-10, and Gill corrects the Targum, which credits Elijah, noting that "it was not Elijah, but a prophet by the order of Elisha, that anointed him." Ellicott also corrects the genealogy: "son of Nimshi" means grandson, "Jehu was son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi." The effect on this unit is chronological: the sentence Ahaziah walks into was passed before he took the throne.

1 Kings 19:16 · 2 Kings 9:1

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes with 1 Kings 19:16, H5250 Nimshiy (rare, in 5 vv), H3058 Yehuw (in 54 vv), H4886 mashach (in 66 vv). The rare patronymic together with the anointing verb is a genuine verbal link, not a shared topic. The 2 Kings 9:1 reference is added on the authority of Gill, K&D, Pulpit and Ellicott, not from a Verifier basis.

The Chronicler working over Kings: Ramoth-gilead and the wounded Joram verbal / quotation: confirmed

Verses 5 and 6 are the most nearly verbatim stretch in the unit. Cambridge heads them as equal to 2 Kings 8:28-29, and Pulpit says the words "are almost identical with the parallel." The differences are where the theology sits: the Chronicler adds "king of Israel" (Ellicott), writes "against" where Kings has "with" (Ellicott), spells the Arameans as הָרַמִּים, and carries כִּי where Kings reads "from" (K&D, Ellicott, Cambridge, who calls the Hebrew here corrupt). The same hand also supplies vv. 3b to 5a, which Kings does not have at all: Ellicott calls the second half of v. 4 "the chronicler's own free expansion or interpretation of the words of Kings, 'for he was son-in-law of the house of Ahab.'" The link is literary dependence within the Hebrew Bible, and the direction of it is what the commentators argue about.

2 Kings 8:28 · 2 Kings 8:29 · 2 Kings 9:21

basis: Verifier: 2 Kings 8:29 shares H3088 Yehoram (in 26 vv) and H274 Achazyah (in 30 vv, twice); 2 Kings 8:28 shares H256 Achab (in 81 vv, twice) and H758 Aram (in 128 vv); 2 Kings 9:21 shares H3088 and H274. Quotation-level dependence inside the Hebrew Bible, documented by Cambridge (22:5, 6 = 2 Kings 8:28-29) and Pulpit ("almost identical with the parallel"). Not an NT citation.

Why the youngest son was king: the raid of the previous chapter structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 1 explains the irregular accession by a clause that assumes a story already told. The Verifier returns 2 Chronicles 21:16 as a candidate on the strength of H6163 ʻĂrâbîy, a lexeme the Hebrew Bible uses in only nine verses, alongside H3088. Ellicott, Gill, Geneva and Pulpit all read the raiders of v. 1 out of 21:16-17, Gill and Geneva identifying them with the Philistines of that verse; K&D insists the camp surprised was "not of the Philistines (Cler.), but of the men of Judah," and that the princes were probably taken prisoner first and killed later, per 21:17. Benson supplies the motive. The rare lexeme is a real verbal tie, but the Chronicler is continuing his own narrative rather than citing it, so the tier stays structural.

2 Chronicles 21:16 · 2 Chronicles 21:17

basis: Verifier: shared H6163 ʻArabiy (rare, in 9 vv) and H3088 Yehoram (in 26 vv) with 2 Chronicles 21:16. A genuine shared-lexeme link inside one continuous narrative; no quotation is claimed, so the tier is structural rather than verbal.

The house of David down to one child structural / thematic: confirmed

This unit ends with Judah's king walking out to meet his executioner; the Chronicler's next paragraph puts Athaliah on the throne and a single infant in hiding. The Verifier returns 2 Chronicles 22:11 and 2 Kings 11:2 on shared names, including H6271 ʻĂthalyâh, which appears in only seventeen verses. Matthew Henry states the pattern that the rest of the brief only implies, that the promise of a Messiah from David "appeared to be now hung upon the brittle thread of the life of a single infant, to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power." The link is a shared plot shape, the hiding of the heir, and the shared persons who make it, not a quotation.

2 Chronicles 22:11 · 2 Kings 11:2

basis: Verifier: 2 Kings 11:2 shares H274 Achazyah (in 30 vv, twice) and H6271 ʻAthalyah (in 17 vv); 2 Chronicles 22:11 shares H3088 Yehoram (in 26 vv) and H274 (twice). Shared persons plus one shared narrative pattern, the concealment of the heir. No quotation claimed.

"He walked also in their counsel": Ellicott's Psalm 1 allusion flagged: verify source

Ellicott opens his note on v. 5 by calling the clause "An allusion to Psalm 1:1" and then says nothing further about the Psalm. The Hebrew of v. 5 does pair hâlak (H1980) with ʻêtsâh (H6098), which is presumably what he heard. But the Verifier returned no shared-lexeme basis for Psalm 1:1 among this unit's candidates, so nothing here confirms the collocation is close enough to call an allusion, and no other commentator in the brief makes the claim. It is recorded because it is a real reading by a named source, and flagged because its basis is one commentator's ear rather than a computed link. A reader who wants it should check the Psalm's own wording first.

Psalm 1:1

basis: Asserted by Ellicott on 2 Chronicles 22:5 ("An allusion to Psalm 1:1") and by no other voice in the brief. The Verifier returned no shared Strong's basis for Psalm 1:1 for this unit, so the claimed verbal overlap of H1980 halak and H6098 ʻetsah is unverified here. Flagged pending a direct pair check.

Sharing a house means sharing its judgment structural / thematic: confirmed

Ahaziah dies inside a sentence passed on somebody else's dynasty. Matthew Henry, commenting on this whole passage, glosses it with a New Testament verse: "See and dread the mischief of bad company. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared, Re 18:4." Revelation 18:4 calls God's people out of a doomed city precisely so that they will not share in her plagues, which is the logic of this unit read backwards. The connection is Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's number is possible and no verbal tier is available; what is shared is a pattern, that alliance with a house under judgment draws the ally into the judgment. The provenance of the link is Henry's own citation, not the Chronicler's.

2 Chronicles 22:7 · Revelation 18:4

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew to Greek), so shared Strong's numbers are impossible and no verbal tier can apply. The basis is the motif link recorded by Matthew Henry, who cites Re 18:4 in his comment on 2 Chronicles 22:1-12: joining a house marked for destruction means sharing its destruction. Structural only.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The brittle thread: a promise carried through this ruin ancient/widely-held

⚙ The unit is a stress test on 2 Samuel 7:16. Every older son of Jehoram is dead before v. 1 begins, the surviving heir is called "the little one," he reigns one year, and v. 7 announces his trampling as coming from God. Matthew Henry states the stake plainly in his comment on the chapter: the whole truth of the prophecies that the Messiah should come from David "appeared to be now hung upon the brittle thread of the life of a single infant, to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power. But God had purposed, and vain were the efforts of earth and hell." That is the ancient and widely held reading of the Chronicler's own point, and Henry is careful about the shape of it: the line is preserved not by any king's virtue but against a queen's intent. Gabriel's announcement to Mary, that her son would be given the throne of his father David, presupposes that this thread never snapped. Nothing in the unit is a picture of Christ; the unit is a link in the chain that reaches him, and it is nearly the thinnest link in it.

2 Samuel 7:16 · 2 Chronicles 22:11 · Luke 1:32-33

From God, and justly from the man: the shape of Acts 4 ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 7 puts two claims in one clause and separates them by nothing. The trampling of Ahaziah was from God (the preposition stands first), and it fell on a man the previous verses convicted in his own person. The commentators divide along exactly that seam and then hold it together: Geneva generalises, "nothing can come to any but by God's providence and as he has appointed, and therefore he causes everything to serve his purposes"; Barnes localises, "his untimely end was a judgment upon him for his idolatry"; Gill states both at once, that it was "according to his purpose and decree" and was ordered "very justly for his sins." This is the grammar the apostles use of the central event of redemptive history, where Herod, Pilate and the nations do what God's hand and purpose had determined beforehand, and are nonetheless the ones who did it. The doctrine is ancient and widely held; what is ⚙ here is the claim that this small verse in Chronicles is one of its clearest Old Testament statements, resting as it does on a noun the Hebrew Bible uses only once.

Acts 2:23 · Acts 4:27-28

An anointed man sent to cut off a house novel

⚙ The unit's last words give an anointing (mâshach, H4886) whose stated purpose is to cut off (kârath, H3772) a house. That is an unusual commission for the oil: not to shepherd, build or bless, but to demolish. The brief's voices treat Jehu strictly historically, and none of them draws a line from him to Christ, so this reading is offered as novel and should be weighed carefully. Set beside the New Testament's statement that the Son of God was manifested in order to destroy the works of the devil, Jehu is at most a rough and partial figure: a man anointed for judgment, whose commission is real, whose obedience is mixed, and whose sword falls on the guilty and on a visiting king alike. The contrast is as instructive as the likeness. Jehu cuts off a house; the anointed one who comes later is himself cut off, and the house he demolishes is not a dynasty but the dominion that held it. Attested here as novel, and marked ⚙, because the brief supplies the anointing and the purpose but no commentator in it makes this connection.

2 Chronicles 22:7 · 1 John 3:8

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. This is one of the more damaged stretches in Chronicles and the English hides most of it. (1) v. 2 reads forty-two years where 2 Kings 8:26 reads twenty-two; Barnes, Ellicott, Pulpit, Cambridge, Gill and K&D all judge it a copyist's error, Poole defends the received figure as counting the years of the house of Omri, and the LXX reads "twenty." BSB prints the corrected number. (2) v. 5 spells the Arameans הָרַמִּים, which Ellicott, Pulpit and K&D treat as a contracted or defective form, and which the LXX read as "archers." (3) v. 6 has כִּי, "because," where the sense requires "from"; Ellicott says the Hebrew as it stands makes no sense, K&D notes that several codices read the preposition, Cambridge calls the text corrupt. (4) v. 6 names the king Azariah, which every voice in the brief corrects to Ahaziah. Readers comparing BSB with the Hebrew should expect these four silent repairs.

Sources. Matthew Henry's entry is a single concise comment on all of 22:1-12, not verse-level exposition, so quoting it against any one verse (done here at v. 3) is a convenience, not a claim about that clause. Barnes's note on 22:1 in the brief ("Not in the sepulchres of the kings") belongs to a later verse of the chapter and was not used. Poole's whole note on v. 3 is the fragment "Being a crafty and au imperious woman," and the "au" is a typographical fault in the public-domain source, quoted as it stands rather than silently mended. Poole's and Gill's notes on v. 2 are long and are capped in the brief; the conclusions used here fall inside the visible text. Two commentary entries (K&D on vv. 4, 5 and 6; JFB on vv. 3 and 4, and on 6 and 7) repeat the same block across verses in the source, so an anchor quoted at one verse may also exist at another.

Uncertainties. Whether the plural verb in v. 1 signals a contested succession (K&D, Cambridge) or merely a different source (Ellicott) is not decidable from the words. Whether Ahaziah travelled to Jezreel from Ramoth-gilead (JFB) or from Jerusalem is unsettled, and K&D says so in as many words. Cambridge's suggestion that "after the death of his father" implies a regency is inference, not statement. The Psalm 1:1 thread is flagged, not confirmed. Cambridge also warns that from v. 7 onward the Chronicler gives "a hasty (and not quite accurate) summary" of 2 Kings 9 and 10:11-14, a caution that bears on the verses just past the end of this unit. The word תְּבוּסַת in v. 7 is stated to occur only here on the authority of Ellicott and K&D, not on any count of our own.

Layers. Everything marked ⚙, including all three movements' inferences beyond the quoted voices, the sola reading, the christ readings and the pull quote, is fallible machine synthesis. The pull quote is not Scripture and is not a quotation from any commentator; it is this tool's own line, offered to be tested. Quotations attributed to a named commentator are verbatim from the public-domain text supplied in the brief; the Scripture text is BSB.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)