Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 21:7
Yet the LORD was unwilling to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant He had made with David, and since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records God’s restraint during Jehoram’s reign, immediately after detailing Jehoram’s alignment with Ahab’s house and before reporting Edom’s rebellion.
The words — אָבָה ('a.Vah) means "he was willing," combined with לְ/הַשׁחִית (le./hash.Chit) meaning "to destroy," forming the negative construction "was unwilling to destroy."
The thread — The text grounds this restraint in the covenant commitments recorded in 2 Samuel 7:12, the promise of a perpetual lamp in 1 Kings 11:36, and the prepared lamp for the anointed one in Psalms 132:17.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to distinguish between temporary historical consequences and permanent covenantal commitments, recognizing that divine action follows established promises rather than immediate circumstances.
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
Howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 11:36 I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.
- Psalms 132:17 There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.
- 2 Samuel 7:12 And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
- Luke 1:69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,
- Luke 1:79 to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
- 1 Kings 11:13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
- 2 Samuel 21:17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”
- 2 Samuel 23:5 Is not my house right with God? For He has established with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and secured in every part. Will He not bring about my full salvation and my every desire?
- 2 Kings 8:19 Yet for the sake of His servant David, the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah, since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.
- 2 Chronicles 22:11 But Jehoshabeath daughter of King Jehoram took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were being murdered, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada the priest, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid Joash from Athaliah so that she could not kill him.