Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 15:6
Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God afflicted them with all kinds of adversity.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The text places this declaration within a prophetic address to Judah and Benjamin during a period of widespread violence and insecure travel. It functions as the descriptive background for the subsequent command to remain resolute.
The words — כֻּתְּתוּ (khu.te.Tu) translates literally to "they were crushed," while הֲמָמָם (ha.ma.Ma/m) means "he troubled them." These terms ground the verse in the physical reality of societal collapse and divine affliction.
The thread — The pattern of national fragmentation and divine judgment recurs in Judges 2:14, where God delivers Israel to plunderers, and Luke 21:22, which frames contemporary turmoil as fulfilled vengeance. 2 Chronicles 12:15 further documents this historical cycle of conflict and divine action.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that societal breakdown stems from divine action, directly preceding the command to "be strong" and not be discouraged. It requires the reader to anchor endurance in the reality of God's sovereign control over adversity.
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 nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
Cross-references
- Luke 21:22 For these are the days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
- Judges 2:14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
- 2 Chronicles 12:15 Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days.
- 2 Chronicles 13:17 Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.
- 2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- 2 Chronicles 36:17 So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
- Psalms 106:41 He delivered them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.
- Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
- Amos 3:6 If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
- Matthew 24:7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.