2 Kings 10:7
5 So the palace administrator, the overseer of the city, the elders, and the guardians sent a message to Jehu: “We are your servants, and we will do whatever you say. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your sight.”
6 Then Jehu wrote them a second letter and said: “If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, then bring the heads of your master’s sons to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.” Now the sons of the king, seventy in all, were being brought up by the leading men of the city.
And when the letter arrived, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
8 When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the sons of the king.” And Jehu ordered, “Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.”
9 The next morning, Jehu went out and stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these?
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- And when the letter arrived, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
- KJV
- And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.
- WEB
- When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and killed them, even seventy people, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel.
- ASV
- And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king`s sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them unto him to Jezreel.
- DARBY
- And it came to pass when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slaughtered seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jizreel.
- BLB
- And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the sons of the king and slaughtered seventy men, and they put their heads in the baskets and sent [them] to him at Jezreel.
- ÅB
- Da nå brevet kom til dem, tok de kongens sønner og drepte dem, sytti i tallet, og la deres hoder i kurver og sendte dem til ham i Jisre'el.
- OTB
- Og da brevet kom til dem, tok de kongens sønner og slaktet dem, sytti personer, og la hodene deres i kurver og sendte dem til ham i Jisre’el.
- B1930
- Da nu brevet kom til dem, tok de kongens sønner og drepte dem, sytti i tallet, og la deres hoder i kurver og sendte dem til ham i Jisre'el.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
1 Kings 21:21
This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free.
Read in context2 Kings 11:1
When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.
Read in context2 Chronicles 21:4
When Jehoram had established himself over his father’s kingdom, he strengthened himself by putting to the sword all his brothers along with some of the princes of Israel.
Read in contextJudges 9:5–57
He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.
Read in context2 Kings 10:9
The next morning, Jehu went out and stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these?
Read in contextMatthew 14:8–11
Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
Read in context