Bible Strands
2 Kings 10:25
When he had finished making the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and officers, “Go in and kill them. Do not let anyone out.” So the guards and officers put them to the sword, threw the bodies out, and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jehu addresses the guards and officers immediately after completing a burnt offering at the temple of Baal. He orders them to enter the inner room, kill everyone inside, and block all exits.
The words — כְּ/כַלֹּתוֹ (ke/kha.lo.T/o) literally means "when he finished," marking the exact moment the command is issued. וַ/יֹּאמֶר (va/i.Yo.mer) translates as "and he said," emphasizing the direct delivery of the lethal order.
The thread — The text records a sealed purge that parallels the coordinated capture in 1 Kings 18:40 and the retributive judgment motif in Revelation 16:6. Ezekiel 22:21 similarly describes a divine gathering followed by consumption by wrath.
Why it lands — The passage describes a historical king’s violent eradication of a religious site without prescribing it as a moral model. It requires readers to separate descriptive historical narrative from prescriptive ethical instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.
Cross-references
- Revelation 16:6 For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve.”
- 1 Kings 18:40 Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.
- Ezekiel 22:21 Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.
- Exodus 32:27 He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”
- Deuteronomy 13:6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known,
- Ezekiel 9:5 And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!