Bible Strands

2 Chronicles 29:9

For behold, this is why our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The speaker addresses the religious community during a temple restoration effort, directly linking present suffering to ancestral disobedience. This declaration occurs at a turning point where national crisis prompts a renewed covenant with God.

The words — The Hebrew hi.Neh (behold) and she.Vi (captivity) anchor the verse’s stark reality. Hi.Neh commands attention to the immediate cause, while she.Vi denotes the enforced displacement of families.

The thread — This pattern of ancestral sin producing generational captivity appears in 2 Chronicles 28:5 and 2 Chronicles 28:17, where foreign enemies take Judah captive. It echoes the covenant warnings of Leviticus 26:17, which promises defeat and enemy rule for disobedience.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that collective consequences stem from specific historical choices, not abstract fate. It requires the reader to trace present circumstances back to actionable covenant obedience.

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

וְהִנֵּ֛הve./hi.Nehand/ there!נָפְל֥וּna.fe.Luthey have fallenאֲבוֹתֵ֖ינוּ'a.vo.Tei./nufathers/ ourבֶּחָ֑רֶבbe./Cha.revby the/ swordוּבָנֵ֨ינוּu./va.Nei./nuand/ sons/ ourוּבְנוֹתֵ֧ינוּu./ve.no.Tei./nuand/ daughters/ ourוְנָשֵׁ֛ינוּve./na.Shei./nuand/ wives/ ourבַּשְּׁבִ֖יba./she.Vi[are] in <the>/ captivityעַל־'al-onזֹֽאת׃Zotthis

King James Version

For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.

Cross-references