2 Chronicles 13:7 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 7. And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse advances the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence: “And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Abijah argues for Davidic and priestly legitimacy.”

Read It With

2 Chronicles 13:1–12

Read 2 Chronicles 13:7 with 13:1–12. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Facing Jeroboam's larger army, Abijah appeals to the Davidic covenant, criticizes northern worship, and claims Judah's priests, Levites, sacrifices, and trumpets maintain the LORD's charge.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Within “Abijah argues for Davidic and priestly legitimacy,” 2 Chronicles 13:7 advances the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The speech presents Judah's temple-centered self-understanding at maximum rhetorical force before the battle account tests it. 2 Chronicles 12:13–16 has just established this prior movement: Rehoboam reigns seventeen years, is judged evil for not preparing his heart to seek God, and dies amid continuing conflict with Jeroboam. Together those details explain why “Abijah argues for Davidic and priestly legitimacy” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.

Read 2 Chronicles 13:1–12 together

Why these verses belong together: 2 Chronicles 13:1–12 forms the complete movement “Abijah argues for Davidic and priestly legitimacy”: Facing Jeroboam's larger army, Abijah appeals to the Davidic covenant, criticizes northern worship, and claims Judah's priests, Levites, sacrifices, and trumpets maintain the LORD's charge.

Verse 1. Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

Verse 2. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

Verse 3. And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.

Verse 4. And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;

Verse 5. Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

Verse 6. Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord.

Verse 8. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.

Verse 9. Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods.

Verse 10. But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:

Verse 11. And they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken him.

Verse 12. And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

What Remains True

Reform, prayer, victory, and prosperity never remove the need to hear correction, protect dissenters, reject coercion, and respond responsibly to illness and failure. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Facing Jeroboam's larger army, Abijah appeals to the Davidic covenant, criticizes northern worship, and claims Judah's priests, Levites, sacrifices, and trumpets maintain the LORD's charge. In 2 Chronicles 13:7, the concrete line “And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.

How It Can Shape Life

The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam….” Test reform and success by truthfulness, noncoercion, protection of critics, and responsible care; do not turn victory, wealth, or illness into a formula about someone's faith. This response follows from the unit's own movement: Facing Jeroboam's larger army, Abijah appeals to the Davidic covenant, criticizes northern worship, and claims Judah's priests, Levites, sacrifices, and trumpets maintain the LORD's charge.

Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read 2 Chronicles 13:1–12 — Abijah argues for Davidic and priestly legitimacy

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? strong

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 13:1–12, 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 13:1–12

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 13:1–12, verse-attached translation and translator notes

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record