2 Chronicles 14:10
in 2 Chronicles 14So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
KJV
Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 14
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThen Asa went out against him,.... Notwithstanding he brought so great an army with him: and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah; where the Ethiopians were; he did not stay till they got further into his country, but marched against them when on the frontiers of it, and chose the valley to pitch in, as being more to the advantage of his smaller army; see Jdg 1:17.
This site's exposition
Zerah the Cushite came against them
on 2 Chronicles 14:9-10
Zerah brings “an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots”, the largest army named in the Old Testament, as far as Mareshah. Wesley notes that the Hebrew Cush often names an Arabian people, nearer Asa's border than African Ethiopia. Barnes proposes that Zerah was Osorkon the Second of Egypt.
This site's exposition
the Valley of Zephathah
The Valley of Zephathah appears nowhere else in Scripture. Barnes places it in the broad valley that opens northwest from Mareshah into the great Philistine plain. Zerah pulled back into that open ground as Asa advanced, where his horsemen and chariots had room to fight.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6 And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the L ORD had given him rest.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:96%@v5-6
Though still they sought God, yet this fear came upon them, that their faith in God might be tried, and that God might have an opportunity of doing great things for them. It was a vast number that the Ethiopians brought against him: 1,000,000 men; and now he found the benefit of having an army ready raised against such a time of need.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The “valley of Zephathah” - not elsewhere mentioned - is probably the broad Wady which opens out from Mareshah (marginal reference) in a northwesterly direction, leading into the great Philistine plain. Zerah, on the advance of Asa, drew off into the wider space of the Wady, where he could use his horsemen and chariots.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּצֵ֥א | vaiyetze' | and he went out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| אָסָ֖א | ʾasa' | Asa | H609 → | 57 times |
| לְפָנָ֑יו | lefanav | <to> before him | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וַיַּֽעַרְכוּ֙ | vaiyaarkhu | and they drew up in formation | H6186 → | |
| מִלְחָמָ֔ה | milchamah | battle | H4421 → | 320 times |
| בְּגֵ֥יא | begei' | in [the] valley of | H1516 → | 59 times |
| צְפַ֖תָה | tzefatah | Zephathah | H6859 → | |
| לְמָרֵשָֽׁה׃ | lemareshah | to Mareshah | H4762 → | 7 times |
וַיֵּצֵ֥אand he went out
vaiyetze'H3318 →1067 times
אָסָ֖אAsa
ʾasa'H609 →57 times
לְפָנָ֑יו<to> before him
lefanavH6440 →2123 times
וַיַּֽעַרְכוּ֙and they drew up in formation
vaiyaarkhuH6186 →
מִלְחָמָ֔הbattle
milchamahH4421 →320 times
בְּגֵ֥יאin [the] valley of
begei'H1516 →59 times
צְפַ֖תָהZephathah
tzefatahH6859 →
לְמָרֵשָֽׁה׃to Mareshah
lemareshahH4762 →7 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
6 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Judges 1:17Then the men of Judah went with their brothers the Simeonites, attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction. So it was called Hormah.
it leads to
- Numbers 21:3
And the LORD heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.
- Numbers 14:45
Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.
- Joshua 19:4
Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
- Judges 1:3
Then the men of Judah said to their brothers the Simeonites, “Come up with us to our allotted territory, and let us fight against the Canaanites. And we likewise will go with you to…
- Numbers 21:3
Through
Joshua 19:4Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
it leads to
- Judges 1:17
Then the men of Judah went with their brothers the Simeonites, attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction. So it was called Hormah.
- Joshua 15:30
Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah,
- Judges 1:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 2 Chronicles
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.