2 Chronicles 32:3
in 2 Chronicles 32he consulted with his leaders and commanders about stopping up the waters of the springs outside the city, and they helped him carry it out.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they helped him.
KJV
He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 32
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
To stop the waters ... - Compare 2Ch 32:30. Hezekiah’s object was probably twofold - to hide the springs outside the city in order to distress the Assyrians, and to convey their water underground into the city, in order to increase his own supply during the siege.
This site's exposition
stopping up the waters of the springs outside the city
on 2 Chronicles 32:3-4
Stopping the fountains outside the city is material Kings never records. Hezekiah works by counsel, not command, gathering princes before the wider people join to stop the water so that an invading king should find none. The engineering here is bound up with the Gihon project verse 30 will describe.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The water had come into that which is called the old pool ( Isa. xxii. 11 ) and the upper pool ( Isa. vii. 3 ); but he gathered the waters into a new place, for the greater convenience of the city, called the lower pool, Isa. xxii.
He took counsel with his princes, and his mighty men,....
A powerful army, if it want water but a few days, will be but a heap of dry dust. All hands were set immediately to work to stop up the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, turning that (it is probable) into the city by pipes under-ground. Such as this is the policy commonly practised now-a-days of destroying the forage before an invading army.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib . . . was purposed to fight against Jerusalem--An account of the means taken to fortify Jerusalem against the threatened siege is given only in this passage.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּוָּעַ֗ץ | vaiyivaatz | and he took counsel | H3289 → | 79 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| שָׂרָיו֙ | sarav | officials his | H8269 → | 421 times |
| וְגִבֹּרָ֔יו | vegiborav | and mighty [men] his | H1368 → | 158 times |
| לִסְתּוֹם֙ | listom | to stop up | H5640 → | 14 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מֵימֵ֣י | meimei | [the] waters of | H4325 → | 581 times |
| הָעֲיָנ֔וֹת | haayanot | the springs | H5869 → | 887 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֖ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| מִח֣וּץ | michutz | [were] from [the] outside | H2351 → | 164 times |
| לָעִ֑יר | lair | of the city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| וַֽיַּעְזְרֽוּהוּ׃ | vaiya'zeruhu | and they helped him | H5826 → | 81 times |
וַיִּוָּעַ֗ץand he took counsel
vaiyivaatzH3289 →79 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
שָׂרָיו֙officials his
saravH8269 →421 times
וְגִבֹּרָ֔יוand mighty [men] his
vegiboravH1368 →158 times
לִסְתּוֹם֙to stop up
listomH5640 →14 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מֵימֵ֣י[the] waters of
meimeiH4325 →581 times
הָעֲיָנ֔וֹתthe springs
haayanotH5869 →887 times
אֲשֶׁ֖רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
מִח֣וּץ[were] from [the] outside
michutzH2351 →164 times
לָעִ֑ירof the city
lairH5892 →1090 times
וַֽיַּעְזְרֽוּהוּ׃and they helped him
vaiya'zeruhuH5826 →81 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Proverbs 15:22Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
it leads to
- Proverbs 11:14
For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.
Reached by 4 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 20:18
Set plans by consultation, and wage war under sound guidance.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 11:14
Through
Proverbs 20:18Set plans by consultation, and wage war under sound guidance.
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:22
Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Luke 14:31
Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 24:6
Only with sound guidance should you wage war, and victory lies in a multitude of counselors.
- Proverbs 15:22
Through
Romans 11:34“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:13
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
- 1 Corinthians 2:16
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
- Job 15:8
Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?
- Isaiah 40:13
Where this verse is studied
About 2 Chronicles
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.