2 Chronicles 16 · Verse 14

2 Chronicles 16:14

And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.

2 Chronicles 16:14, King James Version

2 Chronicles 16:14 in other translations

BSB	And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.
WEB	They buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug out for himself in David’s city, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.
ASV	And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.
YLT	and they bury him in one of his graves, that he had prepared for himself in the city of David, and they cause him to lie on a bed that one hath filled with spices, and divers kinds of mixtures, with perfumed work; and they burn for him a burning--very great.
DARBY	And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had excavated for himself in the city of David, and laid him in a bed filled with spices, a mixture of divers kinds prepared by the perfumer's art; and they made a very great burning for him.
BBE	And they put him into the resting-place which he had made for himself in the town of David, in a bed full of sweet perfumes of all sorts of spices, made by the perfumer's art, and they made a great burning for him.
Webster	And they buried him in his own sepulchers which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him.

What does 2 Chronicles 16:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

14. they buried him in his own sepulchres--The tombs in the neighborhood of Jerusalem were excavated in the side of a rock. One cave contained several tombs or sepulchres. laid him in the bed ... filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices--It is evident that a sumptuous public funeral was given him as a tribute of respect and gratitude for his pious character and patriotic government. But whether "the bed" means a state couch on which he lay exposed to public view, the odoriferous perfumes being designed to neutralize the offensive smell of the corpse, or whether it refers to an embalmment, in which aromatic spices were always used in great profusion, it is impossible to say. they made a very great burning for him--according to some, for consuming the spices. According to others, it was a magnificent pile for the cremation of the corpse--a usage which was at that time, and long after, prevalent among the Hebrews, and the omission of which in the case of royal personages was reckoned a great indignity (2Ch 21:19; 1Sa 31:12; Jr 34:5; Am 6:10).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 14 And laid him in the bed - It is very likely that the body of Asa was burnt; that the bed spoken of here was a funeral pyre, on which much spices and odoriferous woods had been placed; and then they set fire to the whole and consumed the body with the aromatics. Some think the body was not burned, but the aromatics only, in honor of the king. How the ancients treated the bodies of the illustrious dead we learn from Virgil, in the funeral rites paid to Misenus. Nec minus interea Misenum in littore Teucri Flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant. Principio pinguem taedis et robore secto Ingentem struxere pyram: cui frondibus atris Intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressas Constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis, etc. Aen. vi. 214. "Meanwhile the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes, To dead Misenus pay their obsequies. First from the ground a lofty pile they rear Of pitch trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir. The fabric's front with cypress twigs they strew, And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew. The topmost part his glittering arms adorn: Warm waters, then, in brazen caldrons borne Are poured to wash his body joint by joint, And fragrant oils the stiffen'd limbs anoint. With groans and cries Misenus they deplore: Then on a bier, with purple cover'd o'er, The breathless body thus bewail'd they lay, And fire the pile (their faces turn'd away). Such reverend rites their fathers used to pay. Pure oil and incense on the fire they throw, And fat of victims which their friends bestow. These gifts the greedy flames to dust devour, Then on the living coals red wine they pour. And last the relics by themselves dispose, Which in a brazen urn the priests enclose. Old Corineus compass'd thrice the crew, And dipp'd an olive branch in holy dew; Which thrice he sprinkled round, and thrice aloud Invoked the dead, and then dismiss'd the crowd." Dryden. All these rites are of Asiatic extraction. Virgil borrows almost every circumstance from Homer; (see Iliad, xxiii., ver. 164, etc.); and we well know that Homer ever describes Asiatic manners. Sometimes, especially in war, several captives were sacrificed to the manes of the departed hero. So, in the place above, the mean-souled, ferocious demon, Achilles, is represented sacrificing twelve Trojan captives to the ghost of his friend Patroclus. Urns containing the ashes and half-calcined bones of the dead occur frequently in barrows or tumuli in this country; most of them, no doubt, the work of the Romans. But all ancient nations, in funeral matters, have nearly the same rites.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

2 Chronicles 16:14 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיִּקְבְּרֻ֣הוּvai.yik.be.Ru.huand people buried himH6912

בְקִבְרֹתָ֗יוve.kiv.ro.Tavin own grave<s> hisH6913

אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.SherwhichH834

כָּֽרָה\־ka.rah-he had dugH3738

לוֹ֮lofor himself

בְּעִ֣ירbe.'Irin [the] city ofH5892

דָּוִיד֒da.VidDavidH1732

וַיַּשְׁכִּיבֻ֗הוּvai.yash.ki.Vu.huand they made lie himH7901

בַּמִּשְׁכָּב֙ba.mish.Kavin the lying placeH4904

אֲשֶׁ֤ר'a.SherwhichH834

מִלֵּא֙mi.Le'he had filledH4390

בְּשָׂמִ֣יםbe.sa.MimspicesH1314

וּזְנִ֔יםu.ze.Nimand kindsH2177

מְרֻקָּחִ֖יםme.ru.ka.ChimmixedH7543

בְּמִרְקַ֣חַתbe.mir.Ka.chatas ointment ofH4842

מַעֲשֶׂ֑הma.'a.SehworkH4639

וַיִּשְׂרְפוּ\־vai.yis.re.fu-and they burnedH8313

ל֥וֹlofor him

שְׂרֵפָ֖הse.re.Faha burningH8316

גְּדוֹלָ֥הge.do.LahgreatH1419

עַד\־'ad-up toH5704

לִמְאֹֽד\׃\ \פlim.'Od<to> muchnessH3966

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Chronicles 16:14

Jeremiah 34:5
But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord.
Genesis 50:2
And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
2 Chronicles 21:19
And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
Mark 16:1
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
Ecclesiastes 10:1
Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.
Exodus 30:25-37
And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot. …
2 Chronicles 35:24
His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
John 19:39-42
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
Isaiah 22:16
What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

his own sepulchres.
35:24; Isa 22:16; Joh 19:41,42
made. Heb. digged. sweet odours.
Ge 50:2; Mr 16:1; Joh 19:39,40
the apothecaries' art.
Ex 30:25-37; Ec 10:1
a very great.
21:19; Jer 34:5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

2 Chronicles 16:13
And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.
2 Chronicles 16:14
And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.

Read all of 2 Chronicles 16

2 Chronicles 16:14 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y sepultáronlo en sus sepulcros que él había hecho para sí en la ciudad de David; Y pusiéronlo en una litera, la cual hinchieron de aromas y diversas materias odoríferas, preparadas por obra de perfumadores; é hiciéronle una quema muy grande.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et on l’enterra dans son sépulcre, qu’il s’était creusé dans la ville de David; et on le coucha dans un lit qu’on remplit d’aromates et d’un mélange d’épices composé selon l’art du parfumeur; et on en brûla pour lui en très grande abondance.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und man begrub ihn in seinem Begräbnis, das er sich in der Stadt Davids gegraben hatte. Und man legte ihn auf ein Lager, das man gefüllt hatte mit Gewürz und Spezereien, gemischt nach der Kunst der Salbenmischung; und man veranstaltete für ihn einen sehr großen Brand.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Et sepelierunt eum in sepulchro suo quod foderat sibi in civitate David: posueruntque eum super lectum suum plenum aromatibus et unguentibus meretriciis, quæ erant pigmentariorum arte confecta, et combusserunt super eum ambitione nimia.