2 Chronicles 13:7

are gathered R.V. were gathered.

children of Belial R.V. sons of Belial (mg. sons of worthlessness). The general sense "worthless persons" is clear, but the precise meaning of Belial, and whether the word be a proper name or a common noun, cannot be decided at present.

young Lit. a child. If this word is to be literally understood, the statement made is erroneous, for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign (2 Chronicles 12:13). It is probable, however, that the word is used metaphorically to describe one who was young(as indeed his conduct shewed) in experience of government; so Solomon (1 Kings 3:7) calls himself a little child, by which he simply meant to express his consciousness of the smallness of his own ability when compared with the greatness of the task which lay before him. Cp. 1 Chronicles 29:1.

tender hearted i.e., according to Heb. phraseology, weak in understanding, the heart being considered to be the seat of the mind. Or we may translate the Heb. phrase as in Deuteronomy 20:8, fainthearted.