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2 Chronicles 18:19

in 2 Chronicles 18

And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one suggested this, and another that.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.

KJV

And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth–gilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.

This verse in 2 Chronicles 18

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

I saw the LORD sitting

on 2 Chronicles 18:18-22

Micaiah's second vision shows “the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right and on His left”. A spirit offers to be “a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets”. Chronicles keeps the scene nearly identical to 1 Kings 22:19-23.

This site's exposition

Who will entice Ahab

The question put to the heavenly council names Ahab and the place of his death, Ramoth-gilead. Chrysostom counts it among the lowly expressions God allows to be said of himself for the salvation of the hearers. Such words, he says, become worthy of God through his lovingkindness.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on John 64 · Written before 407.

proposed

For He also endured that many lowly things should be said concerning Him for the salvation of the hearers. ... In the case of Ahab it is said, "Who shall entice Ahab for Me?" And the continually preferring Himself to the gods of the heathen in the way of comparison, all these things are unworthy of God. Yet in another way they are made worthy of Him, for He is so kind, that for our salvation He careth not for expressions which become His dignity. Indeed, the becoming man is unworthy of Him, and the taking the form of a servant, and the speaking humble words, and the being clothed in humble garments, unworthy if one looks to His dignity, but worthy if one consider the unspeakable riches of His lovingkindness.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

and all the host of heaven were standing on His right and His left These are the angels of destruction who stand before Him.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Chronicles 18:18:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוָ֗הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • מִ֤יwho?

    miH4310 →423 times

  • יְפַתֶּה֙will he deceive

    yefatehH6601 →28 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אַחְאָ֣בAhab

    ʾachavH256 →92 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H4428 →2525 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • וְיַ֕עַלso he may go up

    veyaalH5927 →890 times

  • וְיִפֹּ֖לand he may fall

    veyipolH5307 →435 times

  • בְּרָמ֣וֹתat Ramoth

    beramotH7418 →22 times

  • גִּלְעָ֑דGilead

    giladH1568 →134 times

  • וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • זֶ֚הthis one

    zehH2088 →1180 times

  • אֹמֵ֣ר[was] saying

    ʾomerH559 →5305 times

  • כָּ֔כָהthus

    kakhahH3602 →37 times

  • וְזֶ֖הand this one

    vezehH2088 →1180 times

  • אֹמֵ֥ר[was] saying

    ʾomerH559 →5305 times

  • כָּֽכָה׃thus

    kakhahH3602 →37 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Ezekiel 14:9

    But if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 20:25

      I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.

    • Jeremiah 4:10

      Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

    • Isaiah 63:16

      Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

    • 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12

      The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,

    • Isaiah 9:17

      Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite…

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 25:19

    You have said, ‘Look, I have defeated Edom,’ and your heart has become proud and boastful. Now stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 26:16

      But when Uzziah grew powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar…

    • 2 Chronicles 32:25

      But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

  • Through

    Job 12:16

    True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 22:22–23

      And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’

About 2 Chronicles

Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.
Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.

This page draws on Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on John 64 and Keil, The Books of the Chronicles.