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2 Kings 18:2

in 2 Kings 18

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.

KJV

Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

This verse in 2 Kings 18

Commentary

2 notes on this verse
Twenty and five years old was he - This statement, combined with that of 2Ki 16:2, would make it necessary that his father Ahaz should have married at the age of 10, and have had a child born to him when he was 11 years of age. This is not impossible; but its improbability is so great, that most commentators suggest a corruption in some of the numbers. The Zachariah here mentioned was perhaps one of the “faithful witnesses” of Isaiah Isa 8:2.

This site's exposition

in the third year of Hoshea

on 2 Kings 18:1-3

Hezekiah's reign opens dated against Hoshea's rebellion, the last king Israel will ever have, so Judah's reformer and Israel's collapse are set side by side in one sentence. The formula that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did echoes across the book of Kings as the standard every king is measured against, and few earn it without qualification. David is named as the standard rather than Solomon, whose later years the text has already judged.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

In the third year. Of Hoshei'a's rebellion. 1 See above,:1, and Rashi there. 2 I.e., in the third year of Hoshei'a's rebellion against Ashur and declaring his independence, Chizkiyoh became king.—Metzudas Dovid
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Kings 18:1:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

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. 7 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

16 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.

  • בֶּן־a son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • עֶשְׂרִ֨יםtwenty

    ʾesrimH6242315 times

  • וְחָמֵ֤שׁand five

    vechameshH2568343 times

  • שָׁנָה֙year[s]

    shanahH8141877 times

  • הָיָ֣הhe was

    hayahH19613559 times

  • בְמָלְכ֔וֹwhen became king he

    vemalekhoH4427348 times

  • וְעֶשְׂרִ֤יםand twenty

    veesrimH6242315 times

  • וָתֵ֙שַׁע֙and nine

    vatesha'H867258 times

  • שָׁנָ֔הyear[s]

    shanahH8141877 times

  • מָלַ֖ךְhe reigned

    malakhH4427348 times

  • בִּירוּשָׁלִָ֑םin Jerusalem

    birushalimH3389643 times

  • וְשֵׁ֣םand [the] name of

    veshemH8034864 times

  • אִמּ֔וֹmother his

    ʾimoH517220 times

  • אֲבִ֖י[was] Abi

    ʾaviH21

  • בַּת־[the] daughter of

    bat-H1323588 times

  • זְכַרְיָֽה׃Zechariah

    zekharyahH214843 times

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

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

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 and Keil, The Books of the Kings.