2 Chronicles 18:15

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh?

World English Bible · Public Domain

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רַק

raq

H7535

“only”

Particle, Accusative

Appears 109× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 6:5

Full BDB Definition

Origin: the same as H7534 as a noun

TWOT: 2218a

only, altogether, surely - only - only, nought but, altogether (in limitation) - save, except (after a negative) - only, altogether, surely (with an affirmative) - if only, provided only (prefixed for emphasis) - only, exclusively (for emphasis)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

16: words
15: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
5 nouns
1 pronoun
3 prepositions
4 particles

Verb forms

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
מַשְׁבִּיעֶ֑ךָ Hiphil · Participle Active
תְדַבֵּ֥ר Piel · Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אֵלָיו֙ to H413 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 26 words from the Hebrew and 27 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 16 Hebrew tokens and 18 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Chronicles 18:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

1 Samuel 14:24 The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any food until it be evening, and I be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted food.
1 Kings 22:16 The king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh?
Matthew 26:63 But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered him, "I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God."
Mark 5:7 and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don't torment me."
Acts 19:13 But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 2 Chronicles 18:15 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֵלָיו֙ הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ עַד כַּמֶּ֥ה פְעָמִ֖ים אֲנִ֣י מַשְׁבִּיעֶ֑ךָ אֲ֠שֶׁר לֹֽא תְדַבֵּ֥ר אֵלַ֛י רַק אֱמֶ֖ת בְּשֵׁ֥ם יְהוָֽה

The king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh?

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Chronicles 18:15 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον αὐτός ὁ βασιλεύς ποσάκις ὁρκίζω σύ ἵνα μή λαλέω πρός ἐγώ πλήν ἀλήθεια ἐν ὄνομα κύριος

And the king said to him, How often shall I solemnly charge you that you speak to me nothing but truth in the name of the Lord?

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on 2 Chronicles 18:15 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

18:15 Ahab understood that Micaiah had not spoken the word of the Lord, perhaps because Micaiah’s answer used the same words as that of his rivals, or Micaiah might have been speaking with a sarcastic tone (18:14).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) And the king said.—1Ki_22:16 literatim.

I adjure thee.—Compare the words of the high priest to Christ (Mat_26:63).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

15. that thou say nothing but the truth to me] R.V. that thou speak unto me nothing but the truth. The tone of scorn in Micaiah’s voice was noticed by the king.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

How many times must I require ... in the name of Yahweh?

Ahab asks this question out of frustration to rebuke Micaiah. AT: "Many times I have required ... in the name of Yahweh." (See: Rhetorical Question)

in the name of Yahweh

Here the word "name" refers to authority. AT: "as the representative of Yahweh" (See: Metonymy)

I saw all Israel

Here "all Israel" refers to the army of Israel. AT: "I saw the entire army of Israel" (See: Metonymy)

like sheep who have no shepherd

The people of the army are compared to sheep that have no one to lead them because their shepherd, the king, has died. (See: Simile)

These have no shepherd

Yahweh speaks of the king as if he were a shepherd. Just like a shepherd is responsible to care for and protect his sheep, the king is responsible to lead and protect his people. AT: "These people no longer have a leader" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

oath

true

Israel

shepherd

peace

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

2 Chronicles, in the Historical, opens this verse with 16 words (15 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is raq (“only”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “only” (raq) shape what this verse is saying?
How does 1 Samuel 14:24, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “to” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וַיֹּ֤אמֶר» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Tyndale Open Study Notes and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 16 Hebrew ↔ 18 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
“to” occurs 2× in this single verse.
15 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 16 words in this verse.