2 Chronicles 16:11–14, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Chronicles 16:11–14
Asa's diseased feet and honored burial close his reign
Diseased feet, physicians, and a sought LORD left unnamed in the seeking
The acts of Asa, first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. In the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa is diseased in his feet, until his disease is exceeding great. Yet in his disease he seeks not to the LORD, but to the physicians.
The criticism concerns exclusive reliance as the narrative frames it, not physicians as such. The diagnosis cannot be recovered. The passage does not condemn medicine, blame disabled or ill people, promise healing through prayer, or make disease evidence of secret sin.
Death, a bed of spices, and a very great burning
Asa sleeps with his fathers, dying in the one and fortieth year of his reign. They bury him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and lay him in the bed which is filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art. They make a very great burning for him.
Exceeding great burning describes a large memorial burning of spices or goods, not cremation of Asa's body. Communal honor and a criticized response to illness stand together. The ending resists a flat verdict on the whole person. Earlier reform, later rage, hired Aram, imprisoned Hanani, diseased feet, and this fragrant grave all belong to one reign.
How this should shape us
Seek God in illness without despising doctors, and honor the dead without pretending the last years were simple. Do not read a foot disease as exposed guilt, and do not treat burial spices as a scorecard of holiness.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Chronicles 16:11–14 in your own words. Include its movement, placement in Chronicles, one Samuel-Kings comparison, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one modern use the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The criticism concerns the narrative's exclusive reliance language, not physicians as such; the diagnosis and medical history cannot be recovered.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
2 Chronicles 16:11–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 16:11–14
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
STEP Bible NET2full, 2 Chronicles 16:11–14, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of the Chronicler's God, worship, Israel, kingship, retribution, and hope, used within its access limitation rather than as uninspected detailed commentary.
Japhet, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles (2009), chapter 3, 'The People of Israel,' pp. 209–307, and chapter 4, 'Kingship,' pp. 308–383; only the official exposed openings and ranges were inspected
Supports: A recent critical reading of institutional legitimation and selective historical discourse, used without reducing all worship to elite manipulation.
Geyser-Fouché, HTS 79.1 (2023), complete official HTML, sections on selective narration, temple and personnel, royal patronage, Athaliah and Joash, exile, and power
Supports: Case-sensitive distinction between events and literary presentation in ancient historiography, including credibility limits and rhetorical shaping.
Kalimi, 'History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility,' repository PDF pp. 7–25
Supports: Ancient textual association of Uzziah's cultic trespass and skin condition, expressly bounded against modern diagnosis or illness blame.
Meyer, Verbum et Ecclesia 44.1 (2023), complete article sections discussing 2 Chronicles 26:16–21, ma'al, tsara'at, and Leviticus 13–14
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
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 16:11–14, 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 16:11–14
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 16:11–14, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗modern scholarly monograph limited access
The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and Its Place in Biblical Thought
Sara Japhet
Eisenbrauns / Penn State University Press, English edition 1989; reprint 2009
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of the Chronicler's God, worship, Israel, kingship, retribution, and hope, used within its access limitation rather than as uninspected detailed commentary.
Exact location: Japhet, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles (2009), chapter 3, 'The People of Israel,' pp. 209–307, and chapter 4, 'Kingship,' pp. 308–383; only the official exposed openings and ranges were inspected
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
1 and 2 Chronicles as a discourse of power
Ananda Geyser-Fouche
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 79(1), article 8011, 2023
Supports: A recent critical reading of institutional legitimation and selective historical discourse, used without reducing all worship to elite manipulation.
Exact location: Geyser-Fouché, HTS 79.1 (2023), complete official HTML, sections on selective narration, temple and personnel, royal patronage, Athaliah and Joash, exile, and power
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility: Chronicles in Its Ancient Context
Isaac Kalimi
Poznań Theological Studies repository edition, pp. 7-25, 2019 repository edition
Supports: Case-sensitive distinction between events and literary presentation in ancient historiography, including credibility limits and rhetorical shaping.
Exact location: Kalimi, 'History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility,' repository PDF pp. 7–25
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
Why is there an asham sacrifice in Leviticus 14?
Esias E. Meyer
Verbum et Ecclesia 44(1), article 2832, 2023
Supports: Ancient textual association of Uzziah's cultic trespass and skin condition, expressly bounded against modern diagnosis or illness blame.
Exact location: Meyer, Verbum et Ecclesia 44.1 (2023), complete article sections discussing 2 Chronicles 26:16–21, ma'al, tsara'at, and Leviticus 13–14
Open source ↗