Bible Strands
2 Kings 22:16
that this is what the LORD says: I am about to bring calamity on this place and on its people, according to all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Huldah the prophetess delivers a divine oracle to the royal officials sent by King Josiah of Judah. She speaks immediately after the king has discovered and read the newly found book of the law.
The words — מֵבִיא (mevi') translates as "[am] about to bring" and רָעָה (ra'ah) means "calamity." The phrasing establishes a direct causal link between the spoken law and the impending disaster.
The thread — This judgment pattern runs through Deuteronomy 28:15, where covenant failure activates written curses. It aligns with Joshua 23:15 on the certainty of divine warnings and Daniel 9:11 on transgression triggering the curse inscribed in the law.
Why it lands — It demands recognition that the written word of God dictates historical outcomes. The reader must confront the reality that covenant disobedience activates the exact penalties previously declared.
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
Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:
Cross-references
- Daniel 9:11 All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You.
- Joshua 23:15 But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given 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 29:18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,
- Deuteronomy 29:27 Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book.
- Deuteronomy 30:17 But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
- Deuteronomy 31:16 And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- Joshua 23:13 know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
- 2 Kings 20:17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.