Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Chronicles 21:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
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 after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Raiders, disease, and dishonor end Jehoram's reign.”
Read It With
- 2 Chronicles 21:16–20
Read 2 Chronicles 21:18 with 21:16–20. 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: Philistine and Arabian forces plunder the palace and carry away the king's family except Jehoahaz; Jehoram suffers prolonged intestinal disease and dies without public regret or royal burial honor.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Raiders, disease, and dishonor end Jehoram's reign,” 2 Chronicles 21:18 advances the thought unit through its next action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The narrative closes the tyrant's reign through loss, illness, and failed memory while leaving captives and bodily suffering visible. 2 Chronicles 21:12–15 has just established this prior movement: A writing attributed to Elijah condemns Jehoram's unfaithfulness and murders and predicts blows against his people, household, goods, and bowels. Together those details explain why “Raiders, disease, and dishonor end Jehoram's reign” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.
Read 2 Chronicles 21:16–20 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Chronicles 21:16–20 forms the complete movement “Raiders, disease, and dishonor end Jehoram's reign”: Philistine and Arabian forces plunder the palace and carry away the king's family except Jehoahaz; Jehoram suffers prolonged intestinal disease and dies without public regret or royal burial honor.
Verse 16. 16 Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians:
Verse 17. 17 And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
Verse 18. 18 And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
Verse 19. 19 And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
Verse 20. 20 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
Follow the Context
- Philistine and Arabian forces plunder the palace and carry away the king's family except Jehoahaz; Jehoram suffers prolonged intestinal disease and dies without public regret or royal burial honor.
- The narrative closes the tyrant's reign through loss, illness, and failed memory while leaving captives and bodily suffering visible.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Chronicles 21:18 does not permit the wording “And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. A hated ruler's painful death does not make illness comic, justify collective harm, or prove that every unlamented person was rejected by God.
What Remains True
Dynastic promise can persist through corrupt rulers, child danger, rescue, and violent transition without approving the people or methods through which survival occurs. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Philistine and Arabian forces plunder the palace and carry away the king's family except Jehoahaz; Jehoram suffers prolonged intestinal disease and dies without public regret or royal burial honor. In 2 Chronicles 21:18, the concrete line “And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.” Protect children and threatened people first, separate inherited office from moral worth, preserve evidence, reject political killing as a pattern, and place every ruler under review. This response follows from the unit's own movement: Philistine and Arabian forces plunder the palace and carry away the king's family except Jehoahaz; Jehoram suffers prolonged intestinal disease and dies without public regret or royal burial honor.
Teach It Back
Explain why 2 Chronicles 21:18 states that an incurable bowel disease follows the raids. Use 21:16–20, paraphrase “And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease,” 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 21:16–20 — Raiders, disease, and dishonor end Jehoram's reignSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The disease description is not a modern diagnosis, and the invaders' identities must not become ethnic stigma.
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 21:16–20, 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 21:16–20
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 21:16–20, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗