Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 28:5
So the LORD his God delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Aram, who attacked him and took many captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler writes to post-exilic Israel, recounting King Ahaz’s reign during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis when Judah faced simultaneous military threats from Aram and Israel. The narrative places Ahaz in a moment of national collapse immediately following his idolatrous sacrifices on high places and under green trees.
The words — The Hebrew verb נָתַן (natan) translates literally as “he gave” or “he delivered,” appearing in וַיִּתְּנֵהוּ (va-yittenehu) to describe Yahweh handing Ahaz over to his enemies. The term יָד (yad) literally means “hand” but functions idiomatically here to denote military power and control.
The thread — This motif of divine delivery into enemy hands recurs in 2 Chronicles 24:24, where a small Aramean force defeats a large army, and parallels the historical accounts in Isaiah 7:1 and 2 Kings 16:5 regarding the same Syro-Ephraimite coalition.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that national military defeat is presented as a direct consequence of covenant abandonment, not merely geopolitical misfortune. It requires the reader to trace the causal link between idolatrous worship and the withdrawal of divine protection.
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 Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 7:1 Now in the days that Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram marched up to wage war against Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel, but he could not overpower the city.
- 2 Kings 16:5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.
- 2 Chronicles 24:24 Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the LORD delivered into their hand a very great army. Because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, judgment was executed on Joash.
- Exodus 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- 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 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 36:5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
- 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,
- Isaiah 7:6 ‘Let us invade Judah, terrorize it, and divide it among ourselves. Then we can install the son of Tabeal over it as king.’