2 Chronicles 13:17
in 2 Chronicles 13Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
KJV
And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 13
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Slain - The word means strictly “pierced,” and will include both the killed and the wounded. It is translated “wounded” in Lam 2:12.
This site's exposition
slew them with a great slaughter
on 2 Chronicles 13:17-18
Five hundred thousand chosen men fall; Barnes notes the word rendered slain means literally pierced, covering both the dead and the wounded, and Henry sets the number against the grief of Israelites killing Israelites while Judah's heathen neighbors would have counted such a loss occasion for gladness. Verse 18 states the moral in the Chronicler's own key, the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers, faith rather than the larger army deciding the field. Gill notes the Targum renders it reliance on the Word of the Lord God of their fathers, sharpening the same point.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But see the sad effect of division: it was the blood of Israelites that was thus shed like water by Israelites, while the heathen, their neighbours, to whom the name of Israel had formerly been a terror, cried, Aha! so would we have it.
And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
A panic might have ensued, had not the leaders "cried unto the Lord," and the priests "sounded with the trumpets"--the pledge of victory (Nu 10:9; Reassured by the well-known signal, the men of Judah responded with a war shout, which, echoed by the whole army, was followed by an impetuous rush against the foe. The shock was resistless.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Slain - five hundred thousand chosen men - Query, fifty thousand? This was a great slaughter: see the note on 2Ch 13:3, where all these numbers are supposed to be overcharged.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּכּ֥וּ | vaiyaku | and they struck down | H5221 → | 499 times |
| בָהֶ֛ם | vahem | among them | ||
| אֲבִיָּ֥ה | ʾaviyah | Abijah | H29 → | 25 times |
| וְעַמּ֖וֹ | veamo | and people his | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| מַכָּ֣ה | makah | a striking | H4347 → | 48 times |
| רַבָּ֑ה | rabah | great | H7227 → | 454 times |
| וַיִּפְּל֤וּ | vaiyipelu | and they fell | H5307 → | 435 times |
| חֲלָלִים֙ | chalalim | slain | H2491 → | |
| מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | miyisrael | of Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| חֲמֵשׁ־ | chamesh- | five | H2568 → | 343 times |
| מֵא֥וֹת | meot | hundred<s> | H3967 → | 581 times |
| אֶ֖לֶף | ʾelef | thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
| אִ֥ישׁ | ʾish | man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| בָּחֽוּר׃ | bachur | chosen | H977 → | 171 times |
וַיַּכּ֥וּand they struck down
vaiyakuH5221 →499 times
בָהֶ֛םamong them
vahem
אֲבִיָּ֥הAbijah
ʾaviyahH29 →25 times
וְעַמּ֖וֹand people his
veamoH5971 →1873 times
מַכָּ֣הa striking
makahH4347 →48 times
רַבָּ֑הgreat
rabahH7227 →454 times
וַיִּפְּל֤וּand they fell
vaiyipeluH5307 →435 times
חֲלָלִים֙slain
chalalimH2491 →
מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֔לof Israel
miyisraelH3478 →2507 times
חֲמֵשׁ־five
chamesh-H2568 →343 times
מֵא֥וֹתhundred<s>
meotH3967 →581 times
אֶ֖לֶףthousand
ʾelefH505 →505 times
אִ֥ישׁman
ʾishH376 →1663 times
בָּחֽוּר׃chosen
bachurH977 →171 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
1 Corinthians 10:22Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:21
They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will…
- Deuteronomy 32:16
They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
- Deuteronomy 32:21
Through
Isaiah 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
it leads to
- 2 Kings 19:35
And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the…
- Isaiah 10:12
So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2–3
For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
- Isaiah 10:33–34
Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled.
- 2 Samuel 24:16
But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that…
- 2 Kings 19:35
Through
Nahum 1:5The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
it leads to
- Micah 1:4
The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.
- Micah 1:4
About 2 Chronicles

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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
