Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 14:9
Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots, and they advanced as far as Mareshah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports the arrival of an opposing host immediately after detailing King Asa’s two hundred eighty thousand Benjaminite archers and three hundred thousand Judahite spearmen. The account occurs at the moment the Cushite army reaches Mareshah, directly preceding Asa’s march to form battle lines in the Valley of Zephathah.
The words — The text identifies זֶ֣רַח (Ze.rach) as the commander and uses בְּ/חַ֙יִל֙ (be./Cha.yil) to mark the military force arrayed against Judah. The phrase אֶ֣לֶף אֲלָפִ֔ים ('E.lef 'a.la.Fim) literally reads "a thousand thousands," quantifying the infantry alongside the three hundred chariots.
The thread — The mobilization of a massive Cushite force parallels 2 Chronicles 16:8, which references a prior Cushite and Libyan army defeated through reliance on the LORD. The location Mareshah is previously listed as a fortified Judean city in Joshua 15:44 and 2 Chronicles 11:8.
Why it lands — The verse records the exact scale of the opposing force to establish the numerical disparity before the battle is joined. It requires the reader to note the stated proportions of the threat to frame the subsequent military engagement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 16:8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand.
- Joshua 15:44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah—nine cities, along with their villages.
- 2 Chronicles 11:8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,
- 2 Chronicles 12:2 In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem
- 2 Kings 19:9 Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
- Isaiah 8:9 Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
- Ezekiel 30:5 Cush, Put, and Lud, and all the various peoples, as well as Libya and the men of the covenant land, will fall with Egypt by the sword.
- Micah 1:15 I will again bring a conqueror against you, O dweller of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
- Revelation 16:14 These are demonic spirits that perform signs and go out to all the kings of the earth, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.