Bible Strands
2 Kings 7:6
For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports a divine intervention at twilight immediately after four lepers verify the Aramean camp is empty. The passage records God's action and the resulting panic among the fleeing Syrian forces.
The words — הִשְׁמִיעַ (hishmi'a) literally means "he caused to hear," indicating God actively implanted a false auditory perception into the camp. קֹל רֶכֶב (kol rechev) translates as "a sound of chariots," which the fleeing soldiers misinterpreted as a massive allied army.
The thread — This pattern of God using auditory deception to rout enemies mirrors the marching sound in balsam trees in 2 Samuel 5:24. It stands in direct contrast to later passages that warn against relying on actual chariots and horses, as noted in Isaiah 31:1 and 1 Kings 10:29.
Why it lands — The text states that God manufactured the Arameans' fear to secure a military victory without Israelite combat. It requires readers to acknowledge that divine sovereignty, not human strategy or weaponry, determines the outcome of conflict.
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 the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 5:24 As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because this will mean that the LORD has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”
- Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.
- 1 Kings 10:29 A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.
- Revelation 9:9 They also had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.
- 2 Kings 3:22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water, and it looked as red as blood to the Moabites across the way.
- 2 Chronicles 12:2 In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem
- Job 15:21 Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
- Psalms 14:5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is in the company of the righteous.
- Isaiah 36:9 For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
- Ezekiel 10:5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.