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2 Kings 9:18

in 2 Kings 9

So a horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.” And the watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not back.

KJV

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.

This verse in 2 Kings 9

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

What hast thou to do with peace? - “What is it to thee whether there be peace or war? Join my company, and fall into the rear.”

This site's exposition

a watchman on the tower

on 2 Kings 9:17-20

A watchman posted on the tower reads the approach and sends first one horseman, then a second, and Jehu answers each the same way, what hast thou to do with peace, turn thee behind me, folding the king's own messengers into his advancing company. The watchman's final report turns on one detail rather than any message, the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he driveth furiously, a description Clarke calls almost proverbial for the man. The reader learns Jehu's identity from his chariot before Joram does.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 9:1-24 · Written before 373.

proposed

So he went out with a group of select men. But he met Joram, king of Israel, in the course of his journey, and little later Ahaziah, king of Judah. He was able to defeat them after the first attack and killed them both.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

He had scarcely recovered from the fright he was put into in the battle, and his guilty conscience put him into a continual terror. Each messenger asked the same question: " Is it peace? are you for us or for our adversaries?

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, thus saith the king, is it peace?....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

But it is not much for any man's reputation to be known by his fury. He that has rule over his own spirit is better than the mighty. The Chaldee paraphrase gives this a contrary sense: The leading is like that of Jehu, for he leads quietly.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

A report was made to Joram in his palace below. A messenger on horseback was quickly despatched down into the plain to meet the ambiguous host and to question the object of their approach. "Is it peace?" We may safely assume that this messenger would meet Jehu at the distance of three miles or more.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

What hast thou to do with peace? - i. e., “What does it matter to thee whether my errand is one of peace or not?”

The words behind it

26 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.

  • וַיֵּלֶךְ֩and he went

    vaiyelekhH19801546 times

  • רֹכֵ֨ב[the] rider of

    rokhevH739278 times

  • הַסּ֜וּסthe horse

    hasusH5483140 times

  • לִקְרָאת֗וֹto meet him

    likratoH7122139 times

  • וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙and he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • כֹּֽה־thus

    koh-H3541577 times

  • אָמַ֤רhe says

    ʾamarH5595305 times

  • הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙the king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • הֲשָׁל֔וֹם¿ peace

    hashalomH7965236 times

  • וַיֹּ֧אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • יֵה֛וּאJehu

    yehu'H305858 times

  • מַה־what?

    mah-H4100752 times

  • לְּךָ֥[is] to you

    lekha

  • וּלְשָׁל֖וֹםand to peace

    uleshalomH7965236 times

  • סֹ֣בgo around

    soH5437161 times

  • אֶֽל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • אַחֲרָ֑יafter me

    ʾacharaiH310715 times

  • וַיַּגֵּ֤דand he reported

    vaiyagedH5046370 times

  • הַצֹּפֶה֙the watchman

    hatzopehH682236 times

  • לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

  • בָּֽא־he came

    ba'-H9352568 times

  • הַמַּלְאָ֥ךְthe messenger

    hamalakhH4397213 times

  • עַד־to

    ʾad-H57041261 times

  • הֵ֖םthey

    hemH1992553 times

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H38085168 times

  • שָֽׁב׃he has turned back

    shavH77251056 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

    Isaiah 48:22

    “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 57:21

      “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Job 15:20–24

      A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.

    • Luke 19:42

      and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

    • Romans 3:17

      and the way of peace they have not known.”

  • Through

    Romans 3:17

    and the way of peace they have not known.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 59:8

      The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.

    • Romans 5:1

      Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

  • Through

    Jeremiah 16:5

    Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 24:16–23

      “Son of man, behold, I am about to take away the desire of your eyes with a fatal blow. But you must not mourn or weep or let your tears flow.

  • Through

    2 Kings 9:22

    When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 21:13

      but you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab prostituted itself. You have…

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

The Death of Jezebel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Death of Jezebel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 9:1-24; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.