Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 25:15
Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet, who said, “Why have you sought this people’s gods, which could not deliver them from your hand?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text states that God’s anger burned against King Amaziah immediately after the king returned from defeating the Edomites and installed their deities as his own. God responds by sending a prophet to confront the king directly.
The words — The Hebrew phrase אַף יְהוָה חָרָה (af Yahweh charah) literally renders "the anger of Yahweh burned." The verb חָרָה (charah) denotes an intense, consuming wrath directed specifically at Amaziah’s adoption of foreign gods.
The thread — This confrontation echoes the command in Judges 2:2 against covenants with pagan nations and aligns with the declaration in Psalms 96:5 that foreign deities are merely idols. The prophet’s rebuke follows the military campaign detailed in 2 Chronicles 25:11.
Why it lands — The passage demands a clear distinction between the God who delivers and the powerless idols that cannot save. It requires the reader to recognize that adopting foreign worship directly provokes divine judgment.
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
Wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?
Cross-references
- Psalms 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but it is the LORD who made the heavens.
- 2 Chronicles 25:11 Amaziah, however, summoned his strength and led his troops to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down 10,000 men of Seir,
- Judges 2:2 and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?
- 2 Samuel 12:1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.
- 2 Chronicles 16:7 At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and told him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.
- 2 Chronicles 19:2 Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you.
- 2 Chronicles 20:37 Then Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your works.” So the ships were wrecked and were unable to sail to Tarshish.
- 2 Chronicles 24:20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you.’”
- 2 Chronicles 25:7 But a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel—not with any of the Ephraimites.
- Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.