Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 28:6
For in one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 valiant men in Judah. This happened because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler records the catastrophic defeat of Judah by Pekah, king of Israel, immediately after describing God’s delivery of King Ahaz into enemy hands. This narrative moment captures the direct military consequence of Judah’s covenant unfaithfulness.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַ/יַּהֲרֹג֩ (va/i.ya.ha.Rog) literally renders "and he killed," marking Pekah’s decisive action. The numeral construction מֵאָ֨ה וְ/עֶשְׂרִ֥ים אֶ֛לֶף (me.'Ah ve./'es.Rim 'E.lef) specifies the exact figure of "one hundred and twenty thousand."
The thread — The verse explicitly ties the slaughter to Judah forsaking the LORD, a cause-and-effect pattern repeated in Jeremiah 15:6 and Isaiah 1:28. Jeremiah 2:19 extends this pattern by stating that apostasy itself becomes the instrument of discipline.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that collective judgment follows deliberate abandonment of God. It demands a clear-eyed assessment of cause and effect rather than a search for mitigating 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
For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 15:6 You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.
- Isaiah 1:28 But rebels and sinners will together be shattered, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.
- Jeremiah 2:19 Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Joshua 24:20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and consume you, even after He has been good to you.”
- 2 Kings 15:27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria twenty years.
- Isaiah 9:21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they turn against Judah. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Deuteronomy 6:14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.
- Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Deuteronomy 29:24 So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’