Bible Strands
2 Kings 24:2
And the LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servants the prophets.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative places God as the active agent during Jehoiakim’s reign, immediately following the king’s rebellion after three years of Babylonian vassalage. The action occurs while the prophetic warnings remain unfulfilled.
The words — The verb וַיְשַׁלַּח (va.yeshal.lach) translates "and he sent," paired with גְּדוּדֵי (ge.du.dei), "marauding bands," to specify the Chaldean and Aramean forces dispatched against Judah. These lexical choices frame the invasion as a direct divine commission rather than a geopolitical accident.
The thread — The text echoes 2 Kings 21:12, where God announces impending calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, and 2 Kings 23:27, where He declares the removal of Judah from His presence. The historical outworking aligns with Jeremiah 35:11, which records the population's flight from the advancing Babylonian army.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to acknowledge that national destruction follows explicit prophetic declaration and sovereign authorization. It compels assessment of current circumstances against recorded warning rather than contemporary political analysis.
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
And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 35:11 So when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land, we said: ‘Come, let us go into Jerusalem to escape the armies of the Chaldeans and the Arameans.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”
- 2 Kings 23:27 For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”
- 2 Kings 21:12 this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 32:28 Therefore this is what the LORD says: Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it.
- 2 Kings 6:23 So the king prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come into the land of Israel again.
- 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.
- Ezekiel 19:8 Then the nations set out against him from the provinces on every side. They spread their net over him; he was trapped in their pit.
- Deuteronomy 28:49 The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,
- 2 Kings 13:20 And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring.