Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Chronicles 11:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines; and begat twenty and eight sons, and threescore daughters.)
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Identifies Maachah as Rehoboam's favored wife within a large household.
Read It With
- 2 Chronicles 11:18–11:23
Identifies Maachah as Rehoboam's favored wife within a large household. Read 2 Chronicles 11:21 within 11:18–11:23. The complete unit records: Rehoboam's wives, children, favored Maachah, chosen heir Abijah, and dispersed sons are listed within a large royal household.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Dynastic consolidation closes the strengthening sequence while exposing women and children as components of succession strategy. In this exact position, the line beginning “And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his…” identifies Maachah as Rehoboam's favored wife within a large household.
Follow the Context
- Rehoboam's wives, children, favored Maachah, chosen heir Abijah, and dispersed sons are listed within a large royal household.
- Dynastic consolidation closes the strengthening sequence while exposing women and children as components of succession strategy.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his…”
In plain language: Identifies Maachah as Rehoboam's favored wife within a large household.
The line beginning “And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his…” identifies Maachah as Rehoboam's favored wife within a large household.
Why it matters: The wording carries a material literary, historical, temple, royal-power, violence, ethnic, illness, gender, exile, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The household notice does not endorse polygamy, favoritism, treating women as alliances, or distributing sons as instruments of control.
What Remains True
Identifies Maachah as Rehoboam's favored wife within a large household. This concrete detail supports a bounded truth: Faithful memory tells the truth about worship and power together: it preserves covenant hope while naming labor, victims, institutional limits, human agency, and uncertainty.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because this verse identifies Maachah as Rehoboam's favored wife within a large household, keep it inside 11:18–11:23, compare its Samuel-Kings relationship honestly, protect affected people from coercion or stigma, and apply only the accountable principle the complete unit supports.
Teach It Back
Explain why 2 Chronicles 11:21 identifies Maachah as Rehoboam's favored wife within a large household. Use 11:18–11:23, paraphrase “And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Chronicles 11:18–11:23 — Rehoboam's household and succession policy expandSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
2 Chronicles 11:21 remains within this thought-unit limit: Names and maternal relationships have textual complications, and the women receive little voice; political motives remain reasonable inference rather than stated fact.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Chronicles 11:18–11:23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 11:18–11:23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 2 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 2 Chronicles 11:18–11:23, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗