2 Chronicles 21 is the twenty-first chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament in the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

or of the second part of the

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Cyrus the Great of Persia (2 Chronicles 10 to 36). The focus of this chapter is the reign of

Jehoram Jehoram (meaning " Jehovah is exalted" in Biblical Hebrew) was the name of several individuals in the Tanakh. The female version of this name is Athaliah. *The son of Toi, King of Hamath who was sent by his father to congratulate David on the oc ...

, king of Judah.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and is divided into 20 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century), and

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century), and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Old Testament references

*: 2 Chronicles 21 Berean Study Bible
Biblehub *:

Jehoram, king of Judah (21:1–7)

This section contains the record of Jehoram's reign, but uniquely also has the records of the king's brothers (verses 2–4), which only occurs with David's family in Kings or Chronicles. As soon as Jehoram had established his power, he brutally murdered all his brothers, who were in charge of fortified cities, and several notables, most likely driven by his lust for control or fear of losing it. However, the divine wrath was restrained for the kingdom, because of the promise to David (1 Chronicles 17:1–15; cf. 2 Kings 8:17–19).

Verse 5

:''Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.'' * Cross references: 2 Kings 8:17; 2 Chronicles 21:20 *"Eight years": based on Thiele-McFall calculation, Jehoram of Judah reigned from between April and September 848 BCE until his death between April and September 841 BCE. Unlike with his predecessors, Jehoram's reign is counted using the 'non-accession year method', which is commonly used only by the kings of the northern kingdom.

Edom and Libnah Rebel (21:8–11)

The text provides unclear description whether Jehoram managed to defeat the Edomites, only to state that Edom and Libnah successfully revolted against the kingdom of Judah (verse 10), which should give ample warning to Jehoram to repent from his sins, but instead he continued to establish idol worship in Judah.

Elijah’s Letter to Jehoram (21:12–15)

In Jehoram's regnal record, there was not a single prophet appearing in flesh and blood, and the prophetic warning only came in a letter sent by Elijah, who was active in the northern kingdom. Elijah's threats of divine punishment for Jehoram (verses 14–15) were all fulfilled and fell on Jehoram's people, family, property and own body (verses 16–19).

Death of Jehoram (21:16–20)

The punishment for Jehoram came from the south-western neighbors of the kingdom ("the Arabs who are near the Ethiopians"; cf. 2 Chronicles 14:9), and left with only the youngest son of Jehoram, the Davidic line was on the brink of total eradication. The Chronicler extensively describes Jehoram's final punishment in the form of a painful, incurable, yet indefinable sickness (probably a stomach ulcer leading to a chronic rectal prolapse).

Verse 20

:''He was thirty-two when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one’s regret. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.''

MEV In physics, an electronvolt (symbol eV, also written electron-volt and electron volt) is the measure of an amount of kinetic energy gained by a single electron accelerating from rest through an electric potential difference of one volt in vacu ...

*Cross references: 2 Kings 8:17; 2 Chronicles 21:5 The repetition of Jehoram's age and length of reign (cf. verse 5) indicates a transcription from another source. Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905)
''Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers''. 2 Chronicles 21.
London : Cassell and Company, Limited, 905-1906Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019. * "Departed with no one’s regret": or "departed without being desired" in

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

, is rendered in

as , "he walked without praise".

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in parts by Cambridge University Press from 1882 onwards. Anglican bishop John Perowne was the general editor. The first section published was written by theologi ...

2 Chronicles 21
Accessed 28 April 2019

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * Thiele, Edwin R., ''

The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings'' (1951) is a reconstruction of the chronology of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah by Edwin R. Thiele. The book was originally his doctoral dissertation and is widely regarded as the definitive work on t ...

'', (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). *

External links

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

translations: *
Divrei Hayamim II - II Chronicles - Chapter 21 (Judaica Press)
in Hebrew and English translation ith_Rashi's_commentary.html"_;"title="Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary">Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentaryat_Chabad.org *__Christian_translations: *
''Online_Bible''_at_GospelHall.org
(ESV,_KJV,_Darby,_American_Standard_Version,_Bible_in_Basic_English) *
2_Chronicles_Chapter_21._Bible_Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chronicles_2_21 Second_Book_of_Chronicles_chapters.html" ;"title="2_Chronicles_21.html" ;"title="Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary.html" ;"title="Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org * Christian translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) *
2 Chronicles Chapter 21. Bible Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chronicles 2 21 Second Book of Chronicles chapters">21