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2 Kings 13:7

in 2 Kings 13

Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For he left not to Jehoahaz of the people save fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing.

KJV

Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing.

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This verse in 2 Kings 13

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
The meaning is that “he, the king of Syria” (2Ki 13:4 Hazael) limited the standing army of Jehoahaz. Like the dust by threshing - An expression not only employed metaphorically, and importing defeat, conquest, and grinding oppression Jer 51:33; Mic 4:12, but implying also the literal use of threshing-instruments in the execution of prisoners of war (marginal reference, and compare 2Sa 12:31).

This site's exposition

except fifty horsemen, ten chariots

Hazael's oppression is measured in a single ruined army: “fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers” left, “like the dust at threshing”. Barnes reads the threshing figure as more than metaphor, the literal use of the threshing instrument on captives that 2 Sam 12:31 also records.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The debauching of a nation will certainly be the debasing of it. Some sparks of Israel's ancient honour appearing in these ashes. It is not quite forgotten, notwithstanding all these quarrels, that this people is the Israel of God and he is the God of Israel.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Hence it is a most significant figure, frequently employed by Orientals to describe a state of national suffering, little short of extermination (Isa 21:10; The figure originated in a barbarous war custom, which Hazael literally followed (Am 1:3, 4; compare 2Sa 18:31;

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The words behind it

21 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.

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • לֹא֩not

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • הִשְׁאִ֨ירhe left

    hishirH7604 →133 times

  • לִיהוֹאָחָ֜זto Jehoahaz

    lihoachazH3059 →20 times

  • עָ֗םa people

    ʾamH5971 →1873 times

  • כִּ֣יthat

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אִם־except

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • חֲמִשִּׁ֤יםfifty

    chamishimH2572 →163 times

  • פָּֽרָשִׁים֙horsemen

    parashimH6571 →57 times

  • וַעֲשָׂ֣רָהand ten

    vaasarahH6235 →176 times

  • רֶ֔כֶבchariot[s]

    rekhevH7393 →119 times

  • וַעֲשֶׂ֥רֶתand ten

    vaaseretH6235 →176 times

  • אֲלָפִ֖יםthousand<s>

    ʾalafimH505 →505 times

  • רַגְלִ֑יfoot soldier[s]

    ragliH7273 →

  • כִּ֤יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אִבְּדָם֙he had destroyed them

    ʾibedamH6 →184 times

  • מֶ֣לֶךְ[the] king of

    melekhH4428 →2525 times

  • אֲרָ֔םAram

    ʾaramH758 →143 times

  • וַיְשִׂמֵ֥םand he had made them

    vaysimemH7760 →584 times

  • כֶּֽעָפָ֖רlike the dust

    keafarH6083 →110 times

  • לָדֻֽשׁ׃to trample

    ladushH1758 →

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

Related verses

18 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.

Amos 1:3This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.4 works2 Kings 8:12“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”4 worksIsaiah 21:10O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.4 worksAmos 4:10“I sent plagues among you like those of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.4 works2 Samuel 22:43I ground them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and trampled them like mud in the streets.4 works2 Kings 10:32In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Proverbs 14:28A large population is a king’s splendor, but a lack of subjects is a prince’s ruin.3 worksPsalms 18:42I ground them as dust in the face of the wind; I trampled them like mud in the streets.3 works1 Samuel 13:19–23And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.”2 worksIsaiah 36:8Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!2 works1 Kings 20:27The Israelites also mobilized, gathered supplies, and marched out to meet them. The Israelites camped before them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.2 worksIsaiah 41:15–16Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.2 worksJoel 3:14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.2 worksIsaiah 41:2Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.2 works1 Kings 20:15So Ahab assembled the young officers of the district governors, and there were 232 men. And after them, he assembled the rest of the Israelite troops, 7,000 in all.2 works1 Samuel 13:15Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin. And Saul numbered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men.2 works1 Samuel 13:6–7Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.2 worksPsalms 107:39When they are decreased and humbled by oppression, evil, and sorrow,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

    Amos 1:3

    This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 8:12

      “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword,…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Amos 1:9

      This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant…

    • Amos 2:6

      This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.

  • Through

    2 Kings 8:12

    “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword,…

    it leads to

    • Hosea 13:16

      Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

    • Nahum 3:10

      Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in…

    • 2 Kings 15:16

      At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.

    • 2 Kings 12:17

      At that time Hazael king of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he decided to attack Jerusalem.

    • 2 Kings 13:3

      So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad.

About 2 Kings

Jews Mourning in Exile, Eduard Bendemann, 1832, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Public domain.
Jews Mourning in Exile, Eduard Bendemann, 1832, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Public domain.
2 Kings: the study guide →Read 2 Kings 13 →

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 & 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.

Read on in 2 Kings 13 →