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2 Kings 10:7

in 2 Kings 10

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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

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.

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.

This verse in 2 Kings 10

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them,.... They did not in the least hesitate, but immediately complied with the contents of it: that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons; which was the whole number of them: and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel; as a present to Jehu, just as they carried the firstfruits, as Abarbinel observes.

This site's exposition

take ye the heads of the men

on 2 Kings 10:6-7

Jehu's second letter turns loyalty into an order, bring the heads of your master's sons by tomorrow. The men who raised these seventy princes obey without hesitation, and their obedience becomes the very act that empties Ahab's house of heirs. Their swift compliance answers Elijah's old sentence on Ahab's line with human hands willing to carry it out.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Learn hence not to trust in a friend nor to put confidence in a guide not governed by conscience. One can scarcely expect that he who has been false to his God should ever be faithful to his prince. But observe God's righteousness in their unrighteousness.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Put their heads in baskets - What cold-blooded wretches were the whole of these people!

The words behind it

18 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.

  • וַיְהִ֗יand it was

    vayhiH19613559 times

  • כְּבֹ֤אwhen came

    kevo'H9352568 times

  • הַסֵּ֙פֶר֙the letter

    haseferH5612186 times

  • אֲלֵיהֶ֔םto them

    ʾaleihemH4135510 times

  • וַיִּקְחוּ֙and they took

    vaiyikchuH3947966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] sons of

    beneiH11214930 times

  • הַמֶּ֔לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • וַֽיִּשְׁחֲט֖וּand they slaughtered

    vaiyishchatuH781981 times

  • שִׁבְעִ֣יםseventy

    shivimH765791 times

  • אִ֑ישׁman

    ʾishH3761663 times

  • וַיָּשִׂ֤ימוּand they put

    vaiyasimuH7760584 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • רָֽאשֵׁיהֶם֙heads their

    rasheihemH7218599 times

  • בַּדּוּדִ֔יםin <the> baskets

    badudimH1731

  • וַיִּשְׁלְח֥וּand they sent [them]

    vaiyishlechuH7971845 times

  • אֵלָ֖יוto him

    ʾelavH4135510 times

  • יִזְרְעֶֽאלָה׃Jezreel towards

    yizreelahH315736 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 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.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 14:10

      Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house…

    • Exodus 20:5–6

      You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…

  • Through

    2 Kings 11:1

    When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 41:1

      In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son…

    • 2 Kings 25:25

      In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the…

    • 2 Chronicles 22:10–12

      When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs of the house of Judah.

    • 2 Chronicles 24:7

      For the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had even used the sacred objects of the house of the LORD for the Baals.

    • Matthew 2:16

      When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years…

  • Through

    2 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.

    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.

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.