Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 15:11
At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from all the plunder they had brought back.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records King Asa and the gathered people of Judah and Benjamin in Jerusalem during the third month of the fifteenth year of his reign. This moment occurs immediately after a military victory and directly precedes a formal national covenant renewal.
The words — The verb וַ/יִּזְבְּח֤וּ (va/i.yiz.be.Chu) means "they sacrificed," and הַ/שָּׁלָ֖ל (ha./sha.Lal) denotes "the booty" or plunder. These terms explicitly tie the livestock offering to the spoils brought back from battle.
The thread — Dedicating war spoils to Yahweh follows the tribute pattern established in Numbers 31:28 and the personal offerings recorded in Numbers 31:50. The victory that produced this plunder is detailed in 2 Chronicles 14:13.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to recognize that material gain must be redirected toward corporate worship rather than private retention. It demands a concrete action where conquered resources fund and sustain covenant fidelity.
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 they offered unto the Lord the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 14:13 Then Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell and could not recover, for they were crushed before the LORD and His army. So the people of Judah carried off a great amount of plunder
- Numbers 31:28 Set aside a tribute for the LORD from what belongs to the soldiers who went into battle: one out of every five hundred, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, or sheep.
- Numbers 31:50 So we have brought to the LORD an offering of the gold articles each man acquired—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”
- 1 Samuel 15:15 Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”
- 1 Samuel 15:21 The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
- 1 Chronicles 26:26 This Shelomith and his brothers were in charge of all the treasuries for the things dedicated by King David, by the heads of families who were the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and by the army commanders.
- 2 Chronicles 1:6 Solomon offered sacrifices there before the LORD on the bronze altar at the Tent of Meeting, where he offered a thousand burnt offerings.
- 2 Chronicles 7:5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.