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Journey of a Passage

2 Chronicles 21:12

A letter from Elijah

All witnesses say a writing came to Jehoram of Judah from Elijah the prophet. Kings seems to place Elijah's departure earlier, in Jehoshaphat's reign. A chronological question, not a textual one.

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. 2 Kings 3:11 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Kings
  2. Original ChroniclesComposed c. 4th century BC (debated)
  3. 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. Kings

    2 Kings 3:11 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)

    ✓ Contains this passage

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

    Here is Elisha… which poured water on the hands of Elijah

    Under Jehoshaphat, Elisha is already Elijah's successor.

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

    Original Chronicles

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  3. 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.

    il lui vint une lettre du prophète Elie

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

  4. 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).

    Allatæ sunt autem ei litteræ ab Elia propheta

  5. 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.

    וַיָּבֹא אֵלָיו מִכְתָּב מֵאֵלִיָּהוּ הַנָּבִיא

    and a writing came to him from Elijah the prophet

  6. 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).

    there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet

What changed, and why

Explanations: Elijah wrote it before his departure, foreseeing Jehoram's reign; Kings' order is not strictly chronological (Jehoram of Judah may have co-reigned with Jehoshaphat); or Chronicles attributes a prophetic message to Elijah as the great prophet of that era.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedAll witnesses attribute the letter to Elijah.
  • DisputedElijah was alive during Jehoram's sole reign.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Jehoram, Edom and Elijah's Letter →Jehoram kills his six brothers when he becomes king, walks in the ways of Ahab's house, and loses Edom and Libnah. A letter from Elijah announces a plague on his people and a disease of his bowels. Philistines and Arabians carry off his household, all but the youngest son. He dies in agony, "to no one's regret."