2 CHRONICLES 21:13 — KING JAMES VERSION 0 0
“But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself:”
Conclusion of Elijah's letter — the divine judgment — 'And the LORD will strike you down with a severe disease in your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the disease, day by day' (וַיִּגְּפְךָ יְהוָה גְּנֶגַע גָּדוֹל בְּמַחֲלַת קֵיבְךָ עַד תִּשּׁאַר מַחֲלַת קֵיבְךָ יוֹם בְּיוֹם). The specificity of the judgment — bowel disease (מחלת קיבך) involving daily deterioration — is graphic and horrific. The verb ניגף (strike with plague) invokes the language of the Egyptian plagues. The progressive deterioration ('day by day,' יום ביום) indicates a prolonged and degenerative condition. This is illness as divine judgment, not natural disease. The public nature of the suffering — visible deterioration of the king — functions as public demonstration of divine wrath.
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