Bible Strands
2 Kings 8:19
Yet for the sake of His servant David, the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah, since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records God’s decision to preserve Judah during King Jehoram’s reign, immediately after detailing Jehoram’s alliance with Ahab’s house and Edom’s rebellion.
The words — אָבָה ('a.Vah) translates literally as "he was willing," paired with לְמַ֖עַן (le.Ma.'an) meaning "for the sake of," forming the negative construction "was not willing for the sake of."
The thread — This preservation motif traces back to God’s covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7:12 and 2 Samuel 7:15, and is explicitly referenced in 1 Kings 11:36 regarding a lasting lamp for David’s line in Jerusalem.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that Judah’s survival rests on a prior divine promise to David, not on the moral conduct of its current king.
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
Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 11:36 I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.
- 2 Samuel 7:12 And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
- 2 Samuel 7:15 But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
- Isaiah 37:35 ‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
- Hosea 11:9 I will not execute the full fury of My anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man—the Holy One among you—and I will not come in wrath.
- Luke 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,
- 2 Samuel 21:17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”
- 1 Kings 15:4 Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and to make Jerusalem strong.
- 2 Kings 19:34 I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
- 2 Chronicles 21:7 Yet the LORD was unwilling to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant He had made with David, and since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.