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2 Chronicles 14:9

Zerah the Cushite and a million men

All witnesses give Zerah "a thousand thousand" men and 300 chariots. No Egyptian or Kushite king Zerah is known, and the identification of Zerah is uncertain.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original ChroniclesComposed c. 4th century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 2 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of Chronicles
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Composed c. 4th century BC (debated)

    Original Chronicles

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint, 2 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of Chronicles

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Zara l'Ethiopien… une armée d'un million d'hommes, et trois cents chars

    One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Zara Æthiops… decies centena millia, et curribus trecentis

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    זֶרַח הַכּוּשִׁי בְּחַיִל אֶלֶף אֲלָפִים

    Zerah the Cushite with an army of a thousand thousands

    The library's Hebrew numbers this verse 14:8 (Hebrew chapter division).

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots

What changed, and why

Proposals: a general of Osorkon I; a chief of Cushite or Arabian (Cushan) groups near Gerar (14:13–15 mentions tents and herds); or a later memory. "A thousand thousand" may mean "a vast host."

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedA king Zerah is unknown in Egyptian records.
  • DisputedZerah was a general of Osorkon I.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Asa's Reforms and Zerah the Cushite →Asa removes foreign altars, high places, pillars and Asherim, commands Judah to seek the LORD, and builds fortified cities in ten years of peace. Zerah the Cushite comes with a million men and three hundred chariots to Mareshah. Asa prays: "LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power." The Cushites flee to Gerar.