2 Chronicles 9:18

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) 2 Chronicles 9:18 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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2 Chronicles 9:18 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/2-chronicles/9/18.

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English Translation
nd there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
World English Bible · Public Domain
Highlights
  • 1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
  • 1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    nd there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays:
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And six steps to the throne, and a footstool with gold to the throne was fastened. And hands from this and from this on the place of the seat and two lions standing beside the hands.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    nd there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    The throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to it. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    The throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to it. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays:
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    nd there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    And the throne had sixe steppes, with a footestoole of gold fastened to the throne, and stayes on either side on the place of the seate, and two lyons standing by the stayes.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And six steps to go up to the throne, and a footstool of gold, and two arms one on either side, and two lions standing by the arms:
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    and six steps `are' to the throne, and a footstool of gold, to the throne they are fastened, and hands `are' on this `side' and on that on the place of the sitting, and two lions are standing near the hands,
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    and six steps [are] to the throne, and a footstool of gold, [and] they are fastened to the throne; and [places for] hands [are] on this [side] and on that [side] on the place of the sitting, and two lions are standing near the hands,
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    There were six steps to the throne, and a footstool was attached to the throne. On each side of the throne there were armrests with two lions standing beside each of them.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And six steps to the throne, and a footstool with gold to the throne was fastened. And hands from this and from this on the place of the seat and two lions standing beside the hands.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    and the throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold fastened to the throne; and there were arms on each side at the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the arms;
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    There were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting-place, and two lions standing by the stays:
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    The throne had six steps, with a golden footstool attached. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with lions standing beside the armrests.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    There were six steps up to it, and a foot-rest of gold fixed to it, and arms on the two sides of the seat, with two lions at the side of the arms.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and arms on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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וְכֶ֨בֶשׁ
kebesh
H3534
“and · footstool”
Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
Part of Speech
Conjunction + Noun
Type
Common
Gender
Masculine
Number
Singular
State
Absolute
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H3533

TWOT: 951a

footstool
  1. וְשֵׁ֣שׁ shêsh H8337 “and · six” Conjunction + Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  2. מַעֲל֣וֹת maʻălâh H4609 “steps” Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute
  3. לַ֠כִּסֵּא kiççêʼ H3678 “to/for the · throne” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  4. בַּזָּהָ֤ב zâhâb H2091 “in/at the · gold” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  5. לַכִּסֵּא֙ kiççêʼ H3678 “to/for the · throne” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  6. מָאֳחָזִ֔ים ʼâchaz H270 “grasped” Verb, Hophal, Participle Passive, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  7. וְיָד֛וֹת yâd H3027 “and · hands” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute
  8. מִזֶּ֥ה zeh H2088 “from · this” Preposition + Pronoun, Demonstrative, Masculine, Singular
  9. וּמִזֶּ֖ה zeh H2088 “and · from · this” Conjunction + Preposition + Pronoun, Demonstrative, Masculine, Singular
  10. עַל ʻal H5921 “upon” Preposition
  11. מְק֣וֹם mâqôwm H4725 “place of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  12. הַשָּׁ֑בֶת yâshab H3427 “the · seat” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  13. וּשְׁנַ֣יִם shᵉnayim H8147 “and · two” Conjunction + Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Dual, Absolute
  14. אֲרָי֔וֹת ʼărîy H738 “lions” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  15. עֹמְדִ֖ים ʻâmad H5975 “standing” Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  16. אֵ֥צֶל ʼêtsel H681 “beside” Preposition
  17. הַיָּדֽוֹת yâd H3027 “the · hands” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute

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 →

18
words
15
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

  • וְכֶ֨בֶשׁ footstool H3534

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

  • וְכֶ֨בֶשׁ footstool H3534

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מַעֲל֣וֹת step H4609 occurs in 40 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 2 verbs
  • 10 nouns
  • 2 adjectives
  • 2 pronouns
  • 2 prepositions

Verb forms

  • מָאֳחָזִ֔ים Hophal · Participle Passive
  • עֹמְדִ֖ים Qal · Participle Active

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • לַ֠כִּסֵּא throne H3678 ×2
  • וְיָד֛וֹת hand H3027 ×2
  • מִזֶּ֥ה this H2088 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 37 words from the Hebrew and 29 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 18 Hebrew tokens and 24 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

4

Topical passages linked to 2 Chronicles 9:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Genesis 49:9–10 Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, As a lioness. Who will rouse him up?
  • Numbers 23:24 Behold, the people rises up as a lioness, As a lion does he lift himself up: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, Drink the blood of the slain.
  • Numbers 24:9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, As a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Blessed be everyone who blesses you, Cursed be everyone who curses you.
  • Revelation 5:5 One of the elders said to me, "Don't weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome; he who opens the book and its seven seals."

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 9:18 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְשֵׁ֣שׁ מַעֲל֣וֹת לַ֠כִּסֵּא וְכֶ֨בֶשׁ בַּזָּהָ֤ב לַכִּסֵּא֙ מָאֳחָזִ֔ים וְיָד֛וֹת מִזֶּ֥ה וּמִזֶּ֖ה עַל מְק֣וֹם הַשָּׁ֑בֶת וּשְׁנַ֣יִם אֲרָי֔וֹת עֹמְדִ֖ים אֵ֥צֶל הַיָּדֽוֹת

nd there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Chronicles 9:18 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἕξ ἀναβαθμός ὁ θρόνος ἐνδέω χρυσίον καί ἀγκών ἔνθεν καί ἔνθεν ἐπί ὁ θρόνος ὁ καθέδρα καί δύο λέων ἵστημι παρά ὁ ἀγκών

And there were six steps to the throne, riveted with gold, and elbows on either side of the seat of the throne, and two lions standing by the elbows:

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

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 9:18 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 →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

2Ch 9:18 And [there were] six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, [which were] fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays:

Ver. 18. And there were six steps.] Haec omnia fuerunt mystica. All about this throne was mystical and significative.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

2Ch 9:18. With a footstool of gold — This is not mentioned in the parallel passage in 1Ki 10:18, where see the note.

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

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

That is, the steps and the footstool were fastened to the throne.

Upon the pommels or knops.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) With a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne.—Instead of this Kings has, And the throne had a rounded top behind. Although the footstool is a prominent object in Oriental representations of thrones, it is quite possible that our text is due to a corruption of that which appears in Kings, and with which the Syriac here agrees. The LXX. renders, “and six steps to the throne, fastened with gold,” omitting the footstool. The Heb. is at all events suspiciously awkward.

For the remainder of this and the following verse see 1Ki_10:19-20. The chronicler has made two, slight verbal corrections in 2Ch_9:19.

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

18. with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne] A quite different detail takes the place of this in 1Ki_10:19, and the top of the throne was round behind. Perhaps both details were found in the original text of Kings.

and stays on each side of the sitting place] R.V. and stays (mg. “arms”) on either side by the place of the seat.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The footstool (not mentioned in Kings) was an essential appendage to an Oriental throne; it appears everywhere in the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian sculptures.

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

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

CHAPTER IX.

Arms. Protestants, "stays." (Haydock) --- Hebrew in 3 Kings seems clearer and more correct. (Calmet)

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).

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

And there were six steps to the throne steps by which to ascend.

with armrests on either side by the place of the seat like rods from corner to corner, from the right and from the left, upon which to support his arms.

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.

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 18 words (15 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is kebesh (“footstool”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. How does “footstool” (kebesh) shape what this verse is saying?
  2. This verse holds 1 word here found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. What might the rare word draw attention to?
  3. The word “footstool” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
  4. Exodus 20:26 shares the word «step» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
  5. “throne” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  6. These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
  7. The verb «מָאֳחָזִ֔ים» is Hophal Participle Passive. How does its form color the action?
  8. Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

  • 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
  • 1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
  • This verse counts 18 Hebrew ↔ 24 Greek words.
  • These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
  • “throne” occurs 2× in this single verse.

Reading settings

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Old Testament
Old Testament edition

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English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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