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2 Kings 10:1

in 2 Kings 10

Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying:

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and unto them that brought up the sons of Ahab, saying,

KJV

And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab’s children, saying,

This verse in 2 Kings 10

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Ahab had seventy sons - As he had several wives, he might have many children. The Israelites, from the earliest part of their history, were remarkably fruitful. How amazingly did they multiply in Egypt, even under the hand of the severest oppression! And as to the individuals of whose families we have an account, they are quite remarkable: Rehoboam had thirty-eight sons; Abdon had forty; Tola had thirty; Ahab, seventy; and Gideon, seventy-one.

This site's exposition

Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria

on 2 Kings 10:1-3

Jehu's first letter does not demand surrender; it dares Samaria's rulers to set up one of Ahab's seventy sons as king and fight for the house, testing whether they will resist him at all. The seventy sons, some of them likely grandsons given the reckoning at verse thirteen, mark the size of a dynasty Jehu intends to end in full. The letter's real aim is to force the guardians to name their loyalty before Jehu ever draws a sword against them.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria--As it appears (2Ki 10:13), that grandsons are included it is probable that this number comprehended the whole posterity of Ahab.
Seventy sons - i. e., descendants; there were included among them children of Jehoram (2Ki 10:2-3, etc.).

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

And to the custodian of Achov’s children. Those who brought up his children. 1 The literal translation is, “and to those who raised Achov.”
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Kings 10:1:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וּלְאַחְאָ֛בand [belonged] to Ahab

    uleachavH25692 times

  • שִׁבְעִ֥יםseventy

    shivimH765791 times

  • בָּנִ֖יםsons

    banimH11214930 times

  • בְּשֹׁמְר֑וֹןin Samaria

    beshomeronH8111109 times

  • וַיִּכְתֹּב֩and he wrote

    vaiyikhtoH3789224 times

  • יֵה֨וּאJehu

    yehu'H305858 times

  • סְפָרִ֜יםletters

    sefarimH5612186 times

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֣חand he sent [them]

    vaiyishlachH7971845 times

  • שֹׁמְר֗וֹןSamaria

    shomeronH8111109 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • שָׂרֵ֤י[the] officials of

    sareiH8269421 times

  • יִזְרְעֶאל֙Jezreel

    yizreelH315736 times

  • הַזְּקֵנִ֔יםthe elders

    hazekenimH2205178 times

  • וְאֶל־and to

    veel-H4135510 times

  • הָאֹמְנִ֥יםthe guardians

    haomenimH539106 times

  • אַחְאָ֖בAhab

    ʾachavH25692 times

  • לֵאמֹֽר׃<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Kings 13:32

    for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 16:24

      He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city there, calling it Samaria after the name of Shemer, who had owned the hill.

    • 1 Kings 13:2

      And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, “O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of…

    • Leviticus 26:30

      I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

    • 1 Kings 12:31

      Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.

    • 2 Kings 23:16–19

      And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it,…

  • Through

    Judges 8:30

    Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.

    it leads to

    • Judges 9:5

      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.

    • Judges 9:2

      “Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh…

    • Deuteronomy 17:17

      He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.