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2 Chronicles 18:10

Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron for himself and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed!’ ”
2 Chronicles 18:10 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron and said, “Yahweh says, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians, until they are consumed.’”
  • KJV And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made him horns of iron, and said, Thus saith the LORD, With these thou shalt push Syria until they be consumed.
  • BSB Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’”
  • NKJV Now Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made horns of iron for himself; and he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘With these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed.’ ”
  • NLT One of them, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah, made some iron horns and proclaimed, “This is what the Lord says: With these horns you will gore the Arameans to death!”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The prophet Zedekiah dramatizes victory with iron horns, claiming Yahweh promises Israel will gore the Syrians.

Overview

Using a vivid prophetic sign borrowed from imagery of blessing, Zedekiah lends false confidence the appearance of divine authority. He speaks in Yahweh's name yet without Yahweh's word. The episode warns that even God's name can be invoked to dress up falsehood.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Ezek 13:7Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but I have not spoken?”
  • Jer 23:31Behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’
  • Jer 23:25“I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
  • Zech 1:18–21I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns.
  • Jer 28:2–3“Thus speaks Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
  • Jer 23:17They say continually to those who despise me, ‘Yahweh has said, “You shall have peace;”’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, ‘No evil shall come on you.’
  • Jer 23:21I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied.
  • Jer 27:2Yahweh says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck.
  • 2 Tim 3:8Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith, are rejected.
  • Jer 29:21Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes.
  • Jer 28:10–14Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it.
  • Ezek 22:28Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ when Yahweh has not spoken.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

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Commentaries & study tools

Christ at the center

Temple, priesthood, and the repeated need for a faithful king who seeks the LORD all point past every imperfect reign to the King and Temple who finally and fully dwell with God's people.

How 2 Chronicles 18:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.