Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men who are your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time.” Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.
Parallel Translations
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Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men who are your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time.” Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.
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Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
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Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying: 'If ye be on my side, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to-morrow this time.' Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 10:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Revelation 2:20-23 But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works. I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
- Numbers 25:4 Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel.”
- Deuteronomy 5:9 You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me;
- Joshua 7:24-25 Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? Yahweh will trouble you today.” All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.
- 1 Kings 21:8-11 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.” The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had instructed them in the letters which she had written and sent to them.
- 2 Kings 9:32 He lifted up his face to the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
- Job 21:19 You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’ Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
- Isaiah 14:21-22 Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities. “I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh.
- Matthew 12:30 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn’t gather with me, scatters.
- Luke 9:50 Jesus said to him, “Don’t forbid him, for he who is not against us is for us.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain God as a just judge punisheth the wicked children…
God as a just judge punisheth the wicked children of wicked parents unto the third and fourth generation.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 10:6 Then he wrote a letter the second…
2Ki 10:6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye [be] mine, and [if] ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king’s sons, [being] seventy persons, [were] with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
Ver. 6. Then he wrote a letter the second time.] Not with black, but with blood; like that letter of Mithridates, king of Pontus, written to the ruin of fourscore thousand Romans trading in his dominions. But it was just in God, that as Ahab and Jezebel, by a letter sent to the elders of Jezreel, shed the blood of Naboth and his sons; so they should have the blood of all their sons shed by a letter sent from Jezreel to the elders of Samaria. God loveth to retaliate.
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Take ye the heads of the men.] This was but policy to root out all Ahab’s seed, that there might be no avenger. The poet could say,
“Nηπιος ος κατερα κτεινας, παιδας υπολειπει.” - Arist., Rhet., lib. i. cap. 15.
i.e., He is a fool who killeth the father, and yet suffereth his children to survive.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Then he wrote a letter: thus Jezebel is requited…
Then he wrote a letter: thus Jezebel is requited for her letter directed in like manner to the elders of Naboth’s city, whereby his life was wickedly taken away, 1Ki 21:8. And it is probable that some of these elders were concerned in that very business, which makes the judgment of God more remarkable.
Take ye the heads of the men; which word seems to imply that some of them were grown up, who doubtless trod in their parents’ steps; and those that were younger were justly cut off for their parents’ sin; of which See Poole "Exo 20:5"; See Poole "Deu 5:9".
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then he wrote a letter the second time to…
Then he wrote a letter the second time to them,.... Having gained his point by the former:
saying, if ye be mine, acknowledge yourselves my subjects and servants:
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and if ye will hearken to my voice; obey my commands:
take ye the heads of the men your master's sons; that is, take off their heads:
and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time meaning with the heads along with them:
(now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up;) they were in their houses, and under their tuition, and so had an authority over them, and could dispose of them at pleasure; they were not ordinary persons to whose care they were committed, but the principal men of the city.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Come to me to Jezreel] Therefore the…
Verse 6. Come to me to Jezreel] Therefore the letters were not written to Jezreel, but from Jezreel to Samaria.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ki 10:6. He wrote a letter the second time…
2Ki 10:6. He wrote a letter the second time — Thus Jezebel is requited for her letter, directed in like manner to the elders of Naboth’s city, whereby his life was wickedly taken away: and it is probable that some of these elders were concerned in that very business, which makes the judgment of God more remarkable. Take ye the heads of the men — This word, men, seems to imply that some of them, at least, were grown up, who doubtless trod in their parents’ steps: and those that were younger were justly cut off for their parents’ sins; of which see on Exo 20:5. “Besides the accomplishment of the divine decree,” says Dr. Dodd, “Jehu had a further design in requesting this cruel service of the rulers, and elders, and great men of the nation, namely, hereby to involve them in the same crime and conspiracy with himself; for, by prevailing with them to murder Ahab’s kinsmen in this manner, he bound them so closely to his interest, that if any of the inferior people had been inclined to oppose his designs, they were, by this means, deprived of any man of distinction to head them; and not only so, but, by this expedient, Jehu thought that he might in a great measure lessen, if not entirely remove the odium of his own cruel and perfidious conduct.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The heads of rivals, pretenders, and other obnoxious persons…
The heads of rivals, pretenders, and other obnoxious persons are commonly struck off in the East, and conveyed to the chief ruler, in order that he may be positively certified that his enemies have ceased to live. In the Assyrian sculptures we constantly see soldiers conveying heads from place to place, not, however, in baskets, but in their hands, holding the head by the hair.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain take ye the heads of the men, your master's…
take ye the heads of the men, your master's sons--The barbarous practice of a successful usurper slaughtering all who may have claims to the throne, has been frequently exemplified in the ancient and modern histories of the East.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. a letter the second time] Before he presents…
6. a letter the second time] Before he presents himself to them, he will let their alarm involve them more deeply than he is involved in the destruction of the royal family.
take ye the heads] So Nicanor’s head (1Ma_7:47; 2Ma_15:30) was struck off and brought to Jerusalem, and David smote off the head of Goliath (1Sa_17:54) and brought it with him from the battle-field.
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come to me to Jezreel] From what follows we should not discover that they obeyed this part of the order. But no doubt they did, and were ready at the gate, when Jehu came forth on the morrow, to hear what he would say of their prompt obedience. The distance between Jezreel and Samaria was only a journey of a few hours. The heads seem to have been delivered to their new master on the evening of the day on which they were asked for.
Now the king’s sons, &c.] This parenthetic sentence is inserted to show how easy it was, when they were all of one mind, for the tutors to slay the whole family at a blow.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) The second time.—Some MSS., the LXX., and the…
(6) The second time.—Some MSS., the LXX., and the Arabic read “a second letter.”
Take ye the heads.—Jehu knew his men. The cool cynicism of his savage order is worthy of a Sulla or a Marius.
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The heads of the men your master’s sons.—Literally, the heads of the men of the sons of your master Some MSS., the Syriac, Arabic, and Vulg., as well as the MSS. mentioned by Origen, omit the word men. Thenius thinks that this word is used to indicate that only male descendants of Ahab were to be put to death (?). The Alexandrian LXX. omits sons; and four Hebrew MSS. read instead house. The Authorised Version, however, is a permissible interpretation of the Hebrew.
Come.—LXX., bring (them) which is a natural conjecture.
To Jezreel.—A journey of more than twenty miles.
By to morrow this time.—Jehu is urgent for despatch, because time is all-important. He wishes to convince the people of Jezreel as soon as possible that none of the royal princes were left to claim the crown, and that the nobles of Samaria have joined his cause.
Now the king’s sons . . . brought them up.—This is a correct translation. According to the Masoretic punctuation, and supposing that the particle ’eth (rendered “with”) might here be used merely to introduce the subject, we might render: “Now the king’s sons were seventy persons; the great men of the city were bringing them up.” But such a usage of ‘eth is very doubtful. (Comp. 2Ki_6:5.) The sentence, in any case, is only a parenthetic reminder of what was stated in 2Ki_10:1. The total seventy is, perhaps, not to be taken as exact, seventy being a favourite round number. (See Note on 1Ch_1:42.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then he wrote a letter the second time to…
Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying; rather, a second time. The reply of the Samaritan authorities gave Jehu an opportunity, of which he was not slow to take advantage. They might have been contented with their negative response, "We will not make any man king;" but they had gone beyond it they had departed from the line of neutrality, and had placed themselves unreservedly on Jehu"s side. "We are thy servants," they had said, "and will do all that thou shalt bid us." It is always rash to promise absolute obedience to a human being. To volunteer such a promise, when it is not even asked, is the height of folly. If ye be mine as they had said they were, when they called themselves his "slavesand if ye will hearken unto my voicei.e. , obey me, do as I requiretake ye the heads of the men your master"s sons, and come to me to Jezreel. The Samaritan authorities were ordered to bring the heads with them, that they might be seen and counted. In the East generally, the heads of rebels and pretenders, by whatever death they may have died, are cut off, brought to the sovereign, and then exposed in some public place, in order that the public at large may be certified that the men are really dead. (comp. 1Sa_31:9) By tomorrow this time. As Jezreel was not more than about twenty miles from Samaria, the order could be executed by that time. It necessitated, however, very prompt measures, and gave the authorities but little time for consideration. Now the king"s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up (comp. ver. 1).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 wrote a letter the second time to them
wrote a letter the second time to them
Joram had written one letter. This was the next. AT: "again wrote a letter to them" or "wrote another letter to them" (See: Ordinal Numbers)
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on my side
To "be on someone's side" means to be loyal to them and supportive of them. AT: "loyal to me" (See: Idiom)
listen
to hear and obey
to my voice
Here Jehu's "voice" refer to what he says. AT: "to what I say" (See: Metonymy)
you must take the heads ... and come to me
It is implied that they are to bring the heads of the Ahab's descendant and present them to Jehu. AT: "you must take the heads ... and bring them to me" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
you must take the heads of the men of your master's descendants
This refers to killing them and removing their heads. AT: "kill your master's descendants and cut off their heads" (See: Euphemism)
seventy in number ... seventy persons
"70 in number ... 70 persons" (See: Numbers)
who were bringing them up
This means that they were supervising them and teaching them. AT: "who were raising them" or "who were supervising them" (See: Idiom)
sent them to Jehu
This means that they sent people to deliver the baskets to Jehu. AT: "sent people to take them to Jehu" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
voice
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 10:6-7 Decapitation of enemies was a common practice in…
10:6-7 Decapitation of enemies was a common practice in the ancient Near East (6:31-32; 1 Sam 17:46, 51; cp. Matt 14:11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.