Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Chronicles 28:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Reports incense and child burning in the Hinnom valley.
Read It With
- 2 Chronicles 28:1–28:8
Reports incense and child burning in the Hinnom valley. Read 2 Chronicles 28:3 within 28:1–28:8. The complete unit records: Ahaz makes images, burns children in the Hinnom valley, sacrifices widely, and suffers defeats by Aram and Israel that produce captives and an enormous Judahite death toll.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The narrative reverses Jotham's ordered way and makes children, soldiers, families, and captives bear the cost of royal and national failure. In this exact position, the line beginning “Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt…” reports incense and child burning in the Hinnom valley.
Follow the Context
- Ahaz makes images, burns children in the Hinnom valley, sacrifices widely, and suffers defeats by Aram and Israel that produce captives and an enormous Judahite death toll.
- The narrative reverses Jotham's ordered way and makes children, soldiers, families, and captives bear the cost of royal and national failure.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt…”
In plain language: Reports incense and child burning in the Hinnom valley.
The line beginning “Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt…” reports incense and child burning in the Hinnom valley.
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 account does not authorize child sacrifice, collective blame, antisemitism, ethnic hatred of Arameans or northern Israelites, or the claim that defeated people deserve violence.
What Remains True
Reports incense and child burning in the Hinnom valley. 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 reports incense and child burning in the Hinnom valley, keep it inside 28:1–28:8, 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 28:3 reports incense and child burning in the Hinnom valley. Use 28:1–28:8, paraphrase “Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt…,” 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 28:1–28:8 — Ahaz's apostasy brings devastating defeatsSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
2 Chronicles 28:3 remains within this thought-unit limit: The battle totals and direct retribution language are rhetorically intense; they should not become universal explanations of war casualties.
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 28:1–28:8, 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 28:1–28:8
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 28:1–28:8, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗