2 Chronicles 21:19

Translation
King James Version
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.
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KJV (with Strong's)
And it came to pass, that in process of time H3117, after H3318 H6256 the end H7093 of two H8147 years H3117, his bowels H4578 fell out H3318 by reason H5973 of his sickness H2483: so he died H4191 of sore H7451 diseases H8463. And his people H5971 made H6213 no burning H8316 for him, like the burning H8316 of his fathers H1.
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Complete Jewish Bible
In time, after two years, his intestines protruded because of his disease, and he suffered a most painful death. His people kindled no fire for him, as had been done for his ancestors.
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Berean Standard Bible
This continued day after day until two full years had passed. Finally, his intestines came out because of his disease, and he died in severe pain. And his people did not make a fire in his honor as they had done for his fathers.
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American Standard Version
And it came to pass, in process of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
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World English Bible Messianic
In process of time, at the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died of severe diseases. His people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
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Geneva Bible (1599)
And in processe of time, euen after the end of two yeeres, his guttes fell out with his disease: so he dyed of sore diseases: and his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers.
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Young's Literal Translation
and it cometh to pass, from days to days, and at the time of the going out of the end of two years, his bowels have gone out with his sickness, and he dieth of sore diseases, and his people have not made for him a burning like the burning of his fathers.
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See also
2 Chronicles 16:14Jeremiah 34:5
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The Reign of Jehoram
The Reign of Jehoram View full PDF

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In the KJVVerse 11,644 of 31,102

Study This Verse

SUMMARY

Second Chronicles 21:19 starkly recounts the agonizing death of King Jehoram of Judah, a direct fulfillment of divine judgment against his wicked reign. This verse details the gruesome nature of his prolonged illness and subsequent demise, emphasizing the public's profound contempt and the stark absence of traditional royal honors, a clear sign of God's disfavor and the bitter consequences of his unfaithfulness and cruelty.

CONTEXT

  • Literary Context: This verse serves as the grim climax to the narrative of King Jehoram's reign, which began in 2 Chronicles 21. Jehoram, despite being the son of the righteous King Jehoshaphat, immediately plunged Judah into apostasy and violence upon ascending the throne. He murdered all his brothers to consolidate power, married Athaliah (daughter of the idolatrous Ahab and Jezebel), and led the people into Baal worship, as detailed in 2 Chronicles 21:4-6. His egregious sins provoked a severe prophetic warning from Elijah, delivered in a letter that foretold a great plague upon his people, family, and possessions, and a particularly severe, debilitating disease upon Jehoram himself, specifically affecting his bowels (2 Chronicles 21:12-15). Verse 19 explicitly describes the precise and painful fulfillment of this divine judgment, marking the end of a reign characterized by profound spiritual and moral decay.
  • Historical & Cultural Context: The period of Jehoram's reign (c. 848-841 BC) was marked by significant political and religious instability in both Judah and Israel. The influence of the northern kingdom's idolatry, particularly through the Omride dynasty (Ahab and Jezebel), permeated Judah through Athaliah. The "burning" mentioned in the verse refers not to cremation, which was generally not practiced by Israelites, but to an honorific ritual involving the burning of spices, aromatic wood, and sometimes the king's personal effects, as a sign of deep respect and public mourning for a deceased monarch or revered figure. This practice is exemplified in the burial of King Asa (2 Chronicles 16:14). The absence of such a "burning" for Jehoram was a profound public disgrace, signifying that his people did not mourn him, did not respect him, and likely viewed his death as a deserved end to a tyrannical and ungodly reign, a stark contrast to the honor shown to his righteous predecessors.
  • Key Themes: The account of Jehoram's demise powerfully underscores several major theological and narrative themes. Foremost is the theme of Divine Judgment and the Inevitable Consequences of Sin. Jehoram's agonizing death and the subsequent public dishonor serve as a vivid testament to God's unwavering justice and the bitter fruit of rebellion against Him. This narrative reinforces the biblical principle that what one sows, one will also reap. Another crucial theme is the Reliability and Fulfillment of Prophecy. Elijah's specific warnings concerning Jehoram's illness and the plague upon his kingdom were meticulously fulfilled, demonstrating God's sovereign control over human affairs and the certainty of His declared judgments. Finally, the Nature of True Honor and Disgrace is highlighted. The people's refusal to perform the traditional "burning" for Jehoram signifies that true honor is not merely a matter of royal status but is earned through a life of integrity, righteousness, and faithfulness to God, which Jehoram utterly lacked.

EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS

Key Word Analysis

  • bowels fell out (Hebrew, me'ayw yatse'u', H4578): This graphic phrase describes a severe and humiliating physical affliction. While the precise medical condition is debated, it most likely refers to a prolonged, severe form of dysentery, which can lead to intestinal prolapse, or a similar debilitating gastrointestinal illness causing extreme internal distress and eventual expulsion of bodily contents. The vividness of the description emphasizes the intensity of Jehoram's suffering and the gruesome nature of his divinely ordained demise, highlighting the direct, physical consequence of his spiritual corruption. (Based on H4578 mêʻeh and H3318 yâtsâʼ)
  • sore diseases (Hebrew, cholayim ra'im', H2483): Literally "evil diseases" or "malignant diseases." This phrase underscores the severity and persistent nature of Jehoram's illness, which lasted for two years. The term "evil" here carries a theological connotation, suggesting that these diseases were not merely natural ailments but were divinely appointed afflictions, a direct manifestation of God's judgment upon Jehoram for his wickedness. It signifies a profound and comprehensive physical decay. (Based on H2483 chŏlîy and H7451 raʻ and H8463 tachălûwʼ)
  • no burning for him (Hebrew, misraphah', H8316): This term refers to the honorific burning of spices and other aromatic materials that accompanied the burial of revered kings in ancient Israel, symbolizing public mourning, respect, and esteem. The absence of this ritual for Jehoram was a deliberate and profound act of public dishonor. It signified that his people felt no grief, offered no respect, and implicitly endorsed the divine judgment against him, viewing his death as a just and unlamented end to a tyrannical reign. (Based on H8316 sᵉrêphâh)

Verse Breakdown

  • "And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years": This opening phrase emphasizes the prolonged nature of Jehoram's suffering, indicating that his death was not sudden but the culmination of a debilitating, two-year illness. The specific timeframe highlights the fulfillment of Elijah's prophecy, which foretold a "great plague" upon him (2 Chronicles 21:14), suggesting a drawn-out period of divine retribution.
  • "his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases.": This clause provides the graphic and painful details of Jehoram's death. The description of his "bowels fell out" signifies a gruesome, humiliating, and agonizing end, a direct physical manifestation of the "sore diseases" that afflicted him. This specific affliction is understood as a direct, punitive act of God, designed to reflect the internal corruption and moral decay of Jehoram's reign.
  • "And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.": This final clause highlights the ultimate disgrace and rejection Jehoram faced. Unlike his righteous predecessors, such as King Asa, for whom a lavish "burning" was made, Jehoram was denied this customary royal honor. This public snub underscored the people's contempt and relief at his passing, signifying that he had forfeited all respect and esteem, even from his own subjects, a stark contrast to the honor bestowed upon kings who walked faithfully with God.

Literary Devices

The passage employs several potent literary devices to convey its message of divine judgment and consequence. Foreshadowing is evident in Elijah's earlier prophecy (2 Chronicles 21:12-15), which explicitly details the nature of Jehoram's illness, making his death a clear fulfillment rather than a random event. The text also uses striking contrast, juxtaposing Jehoram's dishonorable death with the respectful "burning of his fathers," particularly King Asa (2 Chronicles 16:14), to highlight the spiritual decline and the loss of divine favor. The description "his bowels fell out" is a powerful example of graphic imagery and potentially hyperbole, designed to evoke a strong emotional response and underscore the severity and humiliation of the divine judgment. Furthermore, there is a subtle irony in the fact that a king who brutally murdered his brothers to secure power ultimately dies a prolonged, agonizing, and publicly dishonored death, stripped of all dignity.

THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS

The account of Jehoram's ignominious end serves as a stark biblical testament to the principle of divine justice and the dire consequences of persistent rebellion against God. It underscores that God is not mocked; those who sow wickedness will inevitably reap its bitter fruit. Jehoram's story is a vivid illustration that unrighteousness, idolatry, and cruelty, especially from those in positions of leadership, do not go unpunished. It affirms God's sovereignty over history and His unwavering commitment to upholding His moral order, demonstrating that while His patience is vast, His justice is certain. This narrative provides both a warning to the wicked and an assurance to the righteous that God sees all and will ultimately bring every deed into judgment.

REFLECTION AND APPLICATION

The tragic narrative of King Jehoram's life and death offers profound lessons for believers today, particularly concerning leadership, accountability, and the nature of true honor. Jehoram's reign, marked by violence and apostasy, serves as a sobering reminder that all individuals, especially those entrusted with influence or authority, are ultimately accountable to God for their actions. His agonizing death and the subsequent public dishonor underscore that genuine honor is not conferred by status or power, but is earned through a life of integrity, righteousness, and unwavering faithfulness to God. We are called to live lives that reflect God's character, understanding that our choices have spiritual and often temporal consequences. This passage also reassures us of God's justice; while He is merciful and longsuffering, He is also just, and ultimately, He will repay. This truth provides comfort to those who suffer injustice and serves as a powerful warning to those who persist in wickedness, urging repentance and a return to God's ways.

Questions for Reflection

  • How does Jehoram's reign and death serve as a warning for those in leadership today, whether in the church, family, or society?
  • What does "true honor" mean in a biblical sense, and how can we cultivate a life that earns God's approval and genuine respect from others, rather than seeking fleeting worldly acclaim?
  • How does the certainty of God's justice, as seen in Jehoram's fate, shape our understanding of suffering, righteousness, and the importance of living a life pleasing to God?

FAQ

What exactly does "his bowels fell out" mean, and why is it described so graphically?

Answer: The phrase "his bowels fell out" (Hebrew: me'ayw yatse'u) is a graphic description of a severe and debilitating internal affliction, likely a prolonged and intense form of dysentery or a similar gastrointestinal disease that led to intestinal prolapse or the expulsion of bodily contents. This vivid imagery is not merely medical reporting but serves a theological purpose. It emphasizes the gruesome, humiliating, and agonizing nature of Jehoram's death as a direct, divinely ordained judgment. The specificity and pain of the illness reflect the internal corruption and moral decay of Jehoram's reign, making his physical suffering a mirror of his spiritual state. It underscores the severity of God's retribution for his persistent wickedness, fulfilling the specific prophecy of Elijah against him in 2 Chronicles 21:15.

Why was "no burning" made for Jehoram, and what was its significance?

Answer: In ancient Israel, a "burning" (Hebrew: misraphah) for a deceased king or revered person was not cremation, but an honorific ritual involving the burning of spices, aromatic wood, and sometimes personal effects at the time of burial. This practice symbolized public mourning, respect, and esteem for the departed monarch, as seen in the elaborate "burning" for King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16:14. The fact that "no burning" was made for Jehoram signifies a profound public disgrace and a deliberate act of contempt from his own people. It meant that his subjects felt no grief, offered no respect, and likely viewed his death as a deserved end to a tyrannical and ungodly reign. This absence of traditional royal honors underscored that Jehoram had forfeited all respect and esteem due to his wickedness, serving as a powerful public declaration of divine disfavor and the bitter consequences of his apostasy.

CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT

While Jehoram's death is a stark example of divine judgment for sin, it also serves as a profound backdrop against which the person and work of Jesus Christ shine even more brightly. Jehoram suffered a humiliating and agonizing death as a direct consequence of his own sin, despised by his people and abandoned by God. In stark contrast, Jesus Christ, who "knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21), willingly endured an even more humiliating and agonizing death on the cross, not for His own transgressions, but as the innocent Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). His suffering, though outwardly shameful, was redemptive, fulfilling the ancient prophecies of a suffering servant who would bear the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5). Unlike Jehoram, who received no honor in death, Christ's sacrificial death led to His glorious resurrection and ultimate exaltation, where "God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). Thus, Jehoram's story, a testament to sin's wages, ultimately points to Christ, who, by enduring the cross "for the joy set before him" (Hebrews 12:2), transformed the ultimate disgrace into the ultimate victory, offering forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe.

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Commentary on 2 Chronicles 21 verses 12–20

I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points

Here we have, I. A warning from God sent to Jehoram by a writing from Elijah the prophet. By this it appears that Jehoram came to the throne, and showed himself what he was before Elijah's translation. It is true we find Elisha attending Jehoshaphat, and described as pouring water on the hands of Elijah, after the story of Elijah's translation (Kg2 3:11); but that might be, and that description might be given of him, while Elijah was yet on earth: and it is certain that that history is put out of its proper place, for we read of Jehoshaphat's death, and Jehoram's coming to the crown, before we read of Elijah's translation, Kg1 22:50. We will suppose that the time of his departure was at hand, so that he could not go in person to Jehoram; but that, hearing of his great wickedness in murdering his brethren, he left this writing it is probable with Elisha, to be sent him by the first opportunity, that it might either be a means to reclaim him or a witness against him that he was fairly told what would be in the end hereof. The message is sent him in the name of the Lord God of David his father (Ch2 21:12), upbraiding him with his relation to David as that which, though it was his honour, was an aggravation of his degeneracy. 1. His crimes are plainly charged upon him - his departure from the good ways of God, in which he had been educated, and which he had been directed and encouraged to walk in by the example of his good father and grandfather, who lived and died in peace and honour (Ch2 21:12) - his conformity to the ways of the house of Ahab, that impious scandalous family - his setting up and enforcing idolatry in his kingdom - and his murdering his brethren because they were better than himself, Ch2 21:13. These are the heads of the indictment against him. 2. Judgment is given against him for these crimes; he is plainly told that his sin should certainly be the ruin, (1.) Of his kingdom and family (Ch2 21:14): "With a heavy stroke, even that of war and captivity, will the Lord smite thy people and thy children," etc. Bad men bring God's judgments upon all about them. His people justly suffer because they had complied with his idolatry, and his wives because they had drawn him to it. (2.) Of his health and life: "Thou shalt have great sickness, very painful and tedious, and at last mortal," Ch2 21:15. This he is warned of before, that his blood might be upon his own head, the watchman having delivered his soul; and that when these things so particularly foretold, came to pass, it might appear that they did not come by chance, but as the punishment of his sins, and were so intended. And now if, as he had learned of Ahab to do wickedly, he had but learned even of Ahab to humble himself upon the receipt of this threatening message from Elijah - if, like (Kg1 21:27), he had rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted - who knows but, like him, he might have obtained at least a reprieve? But it does not appear that he took any notice of it; he threw it by as waste-paper; Elijah seemed to him as one that mocked. But those that will not believe shall feel.

II. The threatened judgments brought upon him because he slighted the warning. No marvel that hardened sinners are not frightened from sin and to repentance by the threatenings of misery in another world, which is future and out of sight, when the certain prospect of misery in this world, the sinking of their estates and the ruin of their healths, will not restrain them from vicious courses.

1.See Jehoram here stripped of all his comforts. God stirred up the spirit of his neighbours against him, who had loved and feared Jehoshaphat, but hated and despised him, looking upon it as a scandalous thing for a nation to change their gods. Some occasion or other they took to quarrel with him, invaded his country, but, as it should seem, fought neither against small nor great, but the king's house only; they made directly to that, and carried away all the substance that was found in it. No mention is made of their carrying any away captive but the king's wives and his sons, Ch2 21:17. Thus God made it evident that the controversy was with him and his house. Here it is only said, They carried away his sons; but we find (Ch2 22:1) that they slew them all. Blood for blood. He had slain all his brethren, to strengthen himself; and now all his sons are slain but one, and so he is weakened. If he had not been of the house of David, that one would not have escaped. When Jeroboam's house, and Baasha's, and Ahab's, were destroyed, there was none left; but David's house must not be wholly extirpated, though sometimes wretchedly degenerated, because a blessing was in it, no less a blessing than that of the Messiah.

2.See him tormented with sore diseases and of long continuance, such as were threatened in the law against those that would not fear the Lord their God, Deu 28:58, Deu 28:59. His disease was very grievous. It lay in his bowels, producing a continual griping, and with this there was a complication of other sore diseases. The affliction was moreover very tedious. Two years he continued ill, and could get no relief; for the disease was incurable, though he was in the prime of life, not forty years old. Asa, whose heart was perfect with God though in some instances he stepped aside, was diseased only in his feet; but Jehoram, whose heart was wicked, was struck in his inwards, and he that had no bowels of compassion towards his brethren was so plagued in his bowels that they fell out. Even good men, and those who are very dear to God, may be afflicted with diseases of this kind; but to them they are fatherly chastisements, and by the support of divine consolations the soul may dwell at ease even then when the body lies in pain. These sore diseases seized him just after his house was plundered and his wives and children were carried away. (1.) Perhaps his grief and anguish of mind for that calamity might occasion his sickness, or at least contribute to the heightening of it. (2.) By this sickness he was disabled to do any thing for the recovery of them or the revenge of the injury done him. (3.) It added, no doubt, very much to his grief, in his sickness, that he was deprived of the society of his wives and children and that all the substance of his house was carried away. To be sick and poor, sick and solitary, but especially to be sick and in sin, sick and under the curse of God, sick and destitute of grace to bear the affliction, and of comfort to counter-balance it - is a most deplorable case.

3.See him buried in disgrace. He reigned but eight years, and then departed without being desired, Ch2 21:20. Nobody valued him while he lived, none lamented him when he died, but all wished that no greater loss might ever come to Jerusalem. To show what little affection or respect they had for him, they would not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings, as thinking him unworthy to be numbered among them who had governed so ill. The excluding of his body from the sepulchres of his fathers might be ordered by Providence as an intimation of the everlasting separation of the souls of the wicked after death, from the spirits of just men. This further disgrace they put upon him, that they made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers, Ch2 21:19. His memory was far from being sweet and precious to them, and therefore they did not honour it with any sweet odours or precious spices, though we may suppose that his dead body, after so long and loathsome a disease, needed something to perfume it. The generality of the people, though prone to idolatry, yet had no true kindness for their idolatrous kings. Wickedness and profaneness make men despicable even in the eyes of those who have but little religion themselves, while natural conscience itself often gives honour to those who are truly pious. Those that despise God shall be lightly esteemed, as Jehoram was.

Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 12–20. Public domain.
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Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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