2 Chronicles 21:12-20

12 And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the Lord God of your father David: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father's household, who were better than yourself,
14 behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction--your children, your wives, and all your possessions;
15 and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day.
16 Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians.
17 And they came up into Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king's house, and also his sons and his wives, so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18 After all this the Lord struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease.
19 Then it happened in the course of time, after the end of two years, that his intestines came out because of his sickness; so he died in severe pain. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning for his fathers.
20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king. He reigned in Jerusalem eight years and, to no one's sorrow, departed. However they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

2 Chronicles 21:12-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 21

This chapter relates Jehoram's succession to the throne of Judah, and the murders and idolatries committed by him, 2Ch 21:1-7, the revolt of the Edomites from him, and some of his own people, 2Ch 21:8-11, a writing of Elijah to him, threatening a great plague to him and his family, 2Ch 21:12-15, the raising up of several enemies against him, 2Ch 21:16,17, his sickness, death, and burial, 2Ch 21:18-20.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Elsewhere called Ahaziah (compare 2 Chronicles 22:1)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.