For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.”
- BSB For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”
- NKJV For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!”
- NASB For the Lord had made the army of the Arameans hear a sound of chariots, a sound of horses, that is, the sound of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians against us, to attack us!”
- NLT For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. “The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” they cried to one another.
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 Lord had caused the Syrians to hear phantom armies and flee in terror. God routed the enemy by His own power alone.
Overview
A divinely sent sound of chariots and a great host convinced the besiegers that hired armies were attacking. In panic they imagined Israel had summoned the Hittites and Egyptians. The deliverance came not by Israel's sword but by the Lord's direct intervention. It magnifies God as the true warrior who scatters the enemy and saves His people without their strength.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 2 Sam 5:24And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.
- Isa 31:1Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
- 1 Kgs 10:29And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.
- Rev 9:9And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
- Isa 36:9How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
- 2 Chr 12:2–3And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD,
- Ps 14:5There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.
- Rev 6:15–16And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
- Job 15:21A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
- 2 Kgs 3:22–27And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood:
- Ezek 10:5And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
- 2 Kgs 19:7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
- Jer 20:3–4And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
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Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
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