Bible Strands
2 Kings 10:6
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jehu addresses the Samarian city officials through a written directive, demanding immediate proof of allegiance following their conditional submission in 2 Kings 10:5. The order specifically targets the seventy royal sons currently under the guardianship of the local elders.
The words — The text highlights שֵנִית (shenit, "second") to mark this as a follow-up written order, and אִם (im, "if") frames the demand as a conditional test of obedience.
The thread — The theme of enforcing covenant loyalty and judging corrupt leadership appears in Numbers 25:4 and Deuteronomy 5:9, while Revelation 2:20 warns against tolerating similar spiritual compromise.
Why it lands — The text demands concrete proof of allegiance through a violent, time-bound test, leaving no room for ambiguous political maneuvering.
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
Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
Cross-references
- Revelation 2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
- Numbers 25:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
- Deuteronomy 5:9 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 generations of those who hate Me,
- Joshua 7:24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor.
- 1 Kings 21:8 Then Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city.
- 2 Kings 9:32 He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
- Job 21:19 It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.
- Isaiah 14:21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.
- Matthew 12:30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
- Luke 9:50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus replied, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”