Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 21:2
Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; these were all sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jehoshaphat has died and been buried in the City of David, and his firstborn son Jehoram has taken the throne. The narrator lists Jehoram’s full brothers to establish the royal family structure at the moment of succession.
The words — בְּנֵי (bene) translates literally as "sons of," and אַחִים (achim) means "brothers." These terms anchor the verse in a genealogical record of Jehoshaphat’s male offspring.
The thread — The succession and family division are tracked in the immediate context of 2 Chronicles 21:1 and 21:3, where Jehoshaphat’s burial and his distribution of gifts to his sons precede this list.
Why it lands — The text records the names of the king’s brothers without commentary, establishing the factual basis for the family dynamics that follow. A reader must note the precise enumeration of heirs before evaluating how royal inheritance and political power are later handled.
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 he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 12:6 So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”
- 2 Chronicles 23:2 So they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the families of Israel. And when they came to Jerusalem,
- 2 Chronicles 24:5 So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the house of your God. Do it quickly.” The Levites, however, did not make haste.
- 2 Chronicles 21:4 When Jehoram had established himself over his father’s kingdom, he strengthened himself by putting to the sword all his brothers along with some of the princes of Israel.
- 2 Chronicles 24:16 And Jehoiada was buried with the kings in the City of David, because he had done what was good in Israel for God and His temple.
- 2 Chronicles 28:19 For the LORD humbled Judah because Ahaz king of Israel had thrown off restraint in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the LORD.
- 2 Chronicles 28:23 He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him, and he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But these gods were the downfall of Ahaz and of all Israel.
- 2 Chronicles 28:27 And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
- 2 Chronicles 33:18 As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, they are indeed written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
- 2 Chronicles 35:18 No such Passover had been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present, and the people of Jerusalem.