2 Chronicles 20:25

2Ch 20:25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.

Ver. 25. Both riches.] The Hebrew Recush sounds like it. It signifieth substance, or gathered goods; for it hath the name of getting and gathering.

And precious jewels.] Vasa desideriorum, gold rings, precious stones, chains of pearl, &c. Pharaoh’s horses had golden trappings. {Son 1:8} And the Midianitish camels had chains of gold about their necks. {Jdg 8:26}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 20:25. They found among them in abundance both riches and jewels, &c. — Which they had brought with them to corrupt any of Jehoshaphat’s officers as they saw occasion: to procure necessaries for their vast army from time to time: and because they came as to triumph rather than to fight, being confident of the victory on account of their numbers, and especially because they thought to surprise Jehoshaphat ere he could make any considerable preparations against them; God also permitting them to be puffed up to their own destruction. See how rich in mercy God is to them that call upon him in truth, and how often he out-does the prayers and expectations of his people. Jehoshaphat prayed to be delivered from being spoiled by the enemy, and God not only did that, but enriched them with the spoils of the enemy. Now it appeared what was God’s end in bringing this great army against Judah; it was to humble them, and prove them, that he might do them good in their latter end. It seemed, at first, to be a disturbance to their reformation, but it proves to be a recompense of it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 25. Both riches with the dead bodies] For פגרים peparim, dead bodies, בגדים begadim, garments, is the reading of eight MSS. in the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi, and in several ancient editions. None of the versions have dead bodies except the Chaldee. The words might be easily mistaken for each other, as the פ pe, if a little faint in the under dot might easily pass for a ב beth; and we know that the ר resh and ד daleth, are frequently interchanged and mistaken for each other, both in Hebrew and Syriac. I believe garments to be the true reading; and as to the clause which they stripped off for themselves, it should be understood thus: Which they seized for themselves, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(25) When.—Omit.

They found.—And found.

Among them in abundance both riches.—Instead of bâhèm, “among them,” the LXX. reads bĕhçmâh, “cattle,” which seems preferable. “And found cattle in abundance and substance” (rĕkûsh, movable goods of all sorts, including flocks and herds; Gen_12:5).

With the dead bodies.—And corpses, which they stripped of their ornaments and clothing. But bĕgâdîm, “clothes,” not pĕgârhn, “corpses,” should be read with some MSS., and apparently the Vulg., “inter cadavera . . . vestes quoque.” The Syriac has, “and they found among them a very great spoil and property, and bridles, and horses, and vessels of desire;” the Arabic, “and he found an immense booty, and herds and splendid garments.” The LXX. has τκῦλα, “spoils.”

Precious jewels.—Literally, vessels of desirable things, i.e.,costly articles; a phrase only met with hero: LXX., well, σκεύη ἐπιθυμητὰ.

Which they stripped off for themselves.—Or, and they spoiled them, i.e., the enemy. (Comp. Exo_3:22; LXX., e ἐσκύλευσαν ἑαυτοῖς.)

More than they could carry away.—Literally, until there was no loading or carrying.

Gathering—i.e., taking away (bôzĕzîm, “plundering”). Comp. Jdg_8:24-26 (the spoils of Midian). The amount of the spoil is explained by the circumstance that the invaders had intended to effect a permanent settlement in Judah, and so brought all their goods with them (2Ch_20:11). (Comp. Psa_83:12.) The invasion was thus similar in character to the migrations of the barbarian hordes, which broke repeatedly over the declining Roman empire, though of course it was on a much smaller scale. Its repulse, however, has proved not less momentous in the history of mankind, than that of the Persians at Marathon, or of the Saracens at Roncesvalles. The greatness of the overthrow may be inferred from the fact that the prophet Joel makes it a type of the coming judgment of Israel’s enemies in the “Valley of Jehoshaphat”—a prophetic designation which alludes at once to the catastrophe recorded here, and to the truth that “Jehovah is judge” of all the earth (Joe_3:2; Joe_3:12; Joe_3:14).

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

25. to take away the spoil] R.V. to take the spoil.

they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies] The Heb. text is faulty. LXX. εὗρον κτήνη πολλὰ καὶ ἀποσκευὴν καὶ σκῦλα, i.e. “they found much cattle and property and spoils.”

in gathering] R.V. in taking.

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.

And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them,.... Which was all they had to do; they had no need to fight, as they were told, the Lord had fought for them:

they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies; rich garments on them, and gold and silver on them:

and precious jewels, which they stripped of for themselves; with which their clothes, or some part of their bodies, were ornamented:

more than they could carry away; they were so many, that they made too great a burden for them:

and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much; it took up so much time to strip the bodies, to search for their money and jewels, rings, chains, and such like things of value, worn by them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Riches with the dead bodies - Several manuscripts give another reading: “riches, and garments.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Insomuch. Heb. and Sept. "Three days passed, while they gathered the spoils, because it was great," (H.) "without weight," or estimation. C.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Riches and precious jewels; which they brought with them, partly, to corrupt any of Jehoshaphat’s officers as they saw occasion; partly, to procure necessaries for their vast army from time to time; and partly, because they came as to a triumph rather than to a fight, being secure and confident of the victory because of their great numbers, and especially because they thought to surprise Jehoshaphat ere he could make any considerable preparations against them; God also permitting them to be puffed up to their own destruction.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Both riches with the dead bodies. The Hebrew text reads literally, both riches and dead bodies (no article). The of the text, however, appears in several ("old authorities," Revised Version) manuscripts, as ("garments"), and the versions of both Septuagint and Vulgate lend their authority to this reading. Jewels. The Hebrew term is ylek, the most frequent rendering of which is "vessels," so rendered, that is, a hundred and sixty times out of about three hundred and eight times in all of its occurrence. It is, however, a word of very generic quality, and is rendered as here "jewels" about twenty-five other times. It would seem nugatory to tell us that there were "dead bodies," in the bald rendering of "and dead bodies." Our Authorized Version rendering, "riches with the dead bodies," of course both ingeniously glosses the difficulty and makes a sufficiently good meaning.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jewels - Which they brought with them to corrupt any of Jehoshaphat's officers as they saw occasion: to procure necessaries for their vast army from time to time: and because they came as to triumph rather than to fight, being confident of the victory because of their numbers, and especially because they thought to surprize Jehoshaphat ere he could make any considerable preparations against them; God also permitting them to be puffed up to their own destruction.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

So Jehoshaphat, with his people, came (as Jahaziel had announced, not to fight, but only to make booty) and found among them (בּהם, among or by the fallen) in abundance both wealth and corpses and precious vessels. The mention of פּגרים as part of the booty, between רכוּשׁ and the precious vessels, is somewhat surprising. Some Codd. (4 Kennic. and 3 de Rossi) and various ancient editions (Complut., the Brixenian used by Luther, the Bomberg. of date 1518 and 21, and the Mnster) have, instead of it, בּנדים; but it is very questionable if the lxx and Vulg. have it (cf. de Rossi Variae Lectt. ad h. l.). בּגדים, garments, along with רכוּשׁ, moveable property (cattle, tents, etc.), seems to suit better, and is therefore held by Dathe and Berth. to be the correct and original reading. Yet the proofs of this are not decisive, for פגרים is much better attested, and we need not necessarily take רכוּשׁ to mean living and dead cattle; but just as רכוּשׁ denotes property of any kind, which, among nomadic tribes, consists principally in cattle, we may also take פּגרים in the signification of slain men and beasts - the clothes of the men and the accoutrements and ornaments of the beasts (cf. Jdg 8:26) being a by no means worthless booty. Garments as such are not elsewhere met with in enumerations of things taken as booty, in Jdg 8:26 only the purple robes of the Midianite princes being spoken of; and to the remark that the before-mentioned פּגרים has given rise to the changing of בּגדים into פּגרים, we may oppose the equally well-supported conjecture, that the apparently unsuitable meaning of the word פגרים may have given rise to the alteration of it into בּגדים. חמדות כּלי are probably in the main gold and silver ornaments, such as are enumerated in Jdg 8:25. And they spoiled for themselves משּׂא לאין, "there was not carrying," i.e., in such abundance that it could not be carried away, removed, and plundered in three days, because the booty was so great. The unusually large quantity of booty is accounted for by the fact that these peoples had gone forth with all their property to drive the Israelites out of their inheritance, and to take possession of their land for themselves; so that this invasion of Judah was a kind of migration of the peoples, such as those which, at a later time, have been repeated on a gigantic scale, and have poured forth from Central Asia over the whole of Europe. In this, the purpose of the hostile hordes, we must seek the reason for their destruction by a miracle wrought of God. Because they intended to drive the people of Israel out of the land given them by God, and to destroy them, the Lord was compelled to come to the help of His people, and to destroy their enemies.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

the fourth day

"day 4" (See: Ordinal Numbers)

Valley of Berakah

This is the name of a place. (See: How to Translate Names)

to this day

This means the day on which the writer wrote. See how you translated this in 2 Chronicles 5:9.

translationWords

Jehoshaphat

praise

Yahweh

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

to the extent that they could not carry them away because of the quantity.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.