2 Chronicles 18:16 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 16. Then he said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master; let them return therefore every man to his house in peace.

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

Role in This Section

This verse advances the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence: “Then he said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Micaiah refuses the approved message.”

Read It With

2 Chronicles 18:12–17

Read 2 Chronicles 18:16 with 18:12–17. 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: The messenger urges Micaiah to agree with the others; Micaiah vows to speak what God gives, briefly echoes victory, and then exposes the army as sheep without a shepherd.

Why It Needs Context

2 Chronicles 18:16 depends on 18:12–17; isolating “Then he said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd…” would detach a supporting action, quotation, name, number, object, or transition from “Micaiah refuses the approved message.”

Read 2 Chronicles 18:12–17 together

Why these verses belong together: 2 Chronicles 18:12–17 forms the complete movement “Micaiah refuses the approved message”: The messenger urges Micaiah to agree with the others; Micaiah vows to speak what God gives, briefly echoes victory, and then exposes the army as sheep without a shepherd.

Verse 12. And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent; let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.

Verse 13. And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak.

Verse 14. And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand.

Verse 15. And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the LORD?

Verse 17. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good unto me, but evil?

Continue in Context

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

Read 2 Chronicles 18:12–17 — Micaiah refuses the approved message

Sources used for this context pointer

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 18:12–17, 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 18:12–17

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record