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2 Chronicles 35:21

in 2 Chronicles 35

But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What is the issue between you and me, O king of Judah? I have not come against you today, but I am fighting another dynasty. God told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or He will destroy you!”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

KJV

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

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This verse in 2 Chronicles 35

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
The house wherewith I have war - Necho viewed Babylon as the successor and representative of Assyria - the hereditary enemy of Egypt - and he means that he is merely continuing an old hostility with which Josiah has nothing to do. No doubt the Assyrian and Egyptian armies had often passed up and down Syria by the coast route, without approaching Jerusalem, or even touching the soil of Judaea.

This site's exposition

marched up to fight at Carchemish

on 2 Chronicles 35:20-22

At the height of the reform, Neco of Egypt marches and tells Josiah, “God told me to hurry”. Verse 22 names what he refused as “Neco’s words from the mouth of God”. Albert Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take them as a real oracle carried by an unlikely messenger.

This site's exposition

I am fighting another dynasty

Albert Barnes explains the house Necho names as Babylon, which had taken Assyria's place as Egypt's old enemy. Adam Clarke records that the Targum makes Necho speak of his idol, a reading that excuses Josiah. Chronicles itself calls Necho's words from the mouth of God in the next verse.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

The house - Against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war. It is at thy peril, if thou engage against one who has both a better army, and a better cause and God on his side.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

If even a righteous man engage in an unrighteous cause, let him not expect to prosper. God is no respecter of persons. (2.) From principles of religion: " God is with me; nay, He commanded me to make haste, and therefore, if thou retard my motions, thou meddlest with God." It cannot be that the king of Egypt only pretended this (as Sennacherib did in a like case, 2 Kings xviii.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

But he sent ambassadors to him,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

God commanded me to make haste - The Targum gives a curious turn to this and the following verse: “My idol commanded me to make haste; refrain therefore from me and my idol which is with me, that he betray thee not. When he heard him mention his idol, he would not go back; and he hearkened not unto the words of Necho, which he spake concerning his idol.” Here is the rabbinical excuse for the conduct of Josiah.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

And Elohim (=God) said that I should hurry; refrain, then, from interfering with Elohim who is with me.
Radak: Provence, 1160–1235 · Radak on II Chronicles 35:21:1, via Sefaria, The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007

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. 5 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

27 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.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֣חand he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times

  • אֵלָ֣יוto him

    ʾelavH413 →5510 times

  • מַלְאָכִ֣ים׀messengers

    malakhimH4397 →213 times

  • לֵאמֹר֩׀<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • מַה־what?

    mah-H4100 →752 times

  • לִּ֨י[is] to <the> me

    li

  • וָלָ֜ךְand to <the> you

    valakh

  • מֶ֣לֶךְO king of

    melekhH4428 →2525 times

  • יְהוּדָ֗הJudah

    yehudahH3063 →819 times

  • לֹא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • עָלֶ֨יךָon you

    ʾaleikhaH5921 →5755 times

  • אַתָּ֤הyou

    ʾatahH859 →1094 times

  • הַיּוֹם֙this day

    haiyomH3117 →2304 times

  • כִּ֚יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אֶל־against

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • בֵּ֣ית[the] house of

    beitH1004 →2046 times

  • מִלְחַמְתִּ֔יbattle my

    milchamtiH4421 →320 times

  • וֵאלֹהִ֖יםand God

    velohimH430 →2601 times

  • אָמַ֣רhe has said

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • לְבַֽהֲלֵ֑נִיto hurry I

    levahaleniH926 →39 times

  • חֲדַל־cease

    chadal-H2308 →58 times

  • לְךָ֛<for> yourself

    lekha

  • מֵאֱלֹהִ֥יםfrom God

    meelohimH430 →2601 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־who

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • עִמִּ֖י[is] with me

    ʾimiH5973 →1050 times

  • וְאַל־and may not

    veal-H408 →724 times

  • יַשְׁחִיתֶֽךָ׃he destroy you

    yashchitekhaH7843 →146 times

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

Related verses

9 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Kings 18:25So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”3 works2 Chronicles 25:19You 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?”3 works2 Chronicles 35:22Josiah, however, did not turn away from him; instead, in order to engage him in battle, he disguised himself. He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to fight him on the Plain of Megiddo.3 worksIsaiah 36:10So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”3 works2 Samuel 16:10But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’”2 worksJohn 2:4“Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”2 works
The other 3 cross-references, with their words ▾
Matthew 8:29“What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?”2 works1 Kings 17:18“O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”2 works2 Kings 14:10You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Glory in that and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”2 works

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

    John 2:4

    “Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

    it leads to

    • John 7:6

      Therefore Jesus told them, “Although your time is always at hand, My time has not yet come.

    • John 13:1

      It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world,…

    • John 7:30

      So they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.

    • John 8:20

      He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts, near the treasury. Yet no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.

    • John 12:23

      But Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

  • Through

    Isaiah 36:10

    So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 13:18

      Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Kings 18:25

      So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

  • Through

    2 Samuel 16:10

    But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’”

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 19:22

      And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed…

Where this verse is studied

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.
2 Chronicles: the study guide →Read 2 Chronicles 35 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.

Read on in 2 Chronicles 35 →