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2 Chronicles 13:21

in 2 Chronicles 13

But Abijah grew strong, married fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

But Abijah waxed mighty, and took unto himself fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.

KJV

But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.

This verse in 2 Chronicles 13

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
But Abijah waxed mighty,.... In his kingdom, increasing in riches and numbers, power and authority, and in his family: and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons and sixteen daughters; not after the above battle, nor since he began to reign; for he reigned but three years; but he, no doubt, married wives and had children before he came to the throne, as he might have others after.

This site's exposition

married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons

on 2 Chronicles 13:21-22

Abijah's fourteen wives and thirty-eight children, Clarke suggests, likely sealed alliances with neighboring powers the way royal marriages regularly did; Gill notes most were had before his three-year reign even began. The source citation, the story of the prophet Iddo, gives Clarke what he calls the first biblical mention of the word that becomes midrash, a lost commentary this very chapter appears to draw from. Kings closes Abijam's three verses with the verdict that his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; Chronicles closes its fuller chapter without repeating that line, and the two accounts are read alongside each other rather than resolved into one.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

4 And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; 5 Ought ye not to know that the L ORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:96%@v4-5

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of those arrows. It seems, he had ways peculiar to himself, and sayings of his own, which were recorded with his acts in the history of those times,

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Married fourteen wives - Probably he made alliances with the neighboring powers, by taking their daughters to him for wives.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

And Jeroboam could muster no more strength, etc., and the Lord smote him i.e., Jeroboam.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Chronicles 13:20:1, 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

14 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.

  • וַיִּתְחַזֵּ֣קand he strengthened himself

    vaiyitchazekH2388291 times

  • אֲבִיָּ֔הוּAbijah

    ʾaviyahuH2925 times

  • וַיִּ֨שָּׂא־and he took

    vaiyisa'-H5375656 times

  • ל֔וֹfor himself

    lo

  • נָשִׁ֖יםwives

    nashimH802781 times

  • אַרְבַּ֣עfour-

    ʾarba'H702318 times

  • עֶשְׂרֵ֑הteen

    ʾesrehH6240338 times

  • וַיּ֗וֹלֶדand he fathered

    vaiyoledH3205496 times

  • עֶשְׂרִ֤יםtwenty

    ʾesrimH6242315 times

  • וּשְׁנַ֙יִם֙and two

    ushenayimH8147768 times

  • בָּנִ֔יםsons

    banimH11214930 times

  • וְשֵׁ֥שׁand six-

    vesheshH8337216 times

  • עֶשְׂרֵ֖הteen

    ʾesrehH6240338 times

  • בָּנֽוֹת׃ סdaughters

    banotH1323588 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

    2 Chronicles 11:21

    Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 17:17

      He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.

    • 1 Kings 11:3

      He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.

    • Judges 8:30

      Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.

    • 2 Samuel 3:2–5

      And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel;

    • 2 Samuel 5:13

      After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

  • Through

    Judges 9:5

    He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 11:1–2

      When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.

    • Judges 6:24

      So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

  • Through

    Judges 10:4

    He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 32:41

      Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured their villages and called them Havvoth-jair.

About 2 Chronicles

Solomon Receives the Queen of Sheba, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Solomon Receives the Queen of Sheba, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

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