Bible Strands
2 Kings 11:17
Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people that they would be the LORD’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jehoiada acts immediately after Athaliah’s execution, establishing a covenant between Yahweh, the king, and the people, followed by a separate covenant between the king and the people. This occurs at the moment of political and religious restoration in Jerusalem.
The words — The text highlights וַיִּכְרֹת (va-yikh-rat), meaning "and he cut," which functions as the standard Hebrew idiom for making a covenant. It also uses בְּרִית (be-rit), literally "covenant" or "binding agreement," to define the relationship established.
The thread — This covenant-making pattern appears when David establishes a covenant with the elders at Hebron (2 Samuel 5:3), when the people pledge to seek the Lord (2 Chronicles 15:12), and when Joshua sets a statute and ordinance at Shechem (Joshua 24:25). These passages all record formal agreements binding a community to divine authority.
Why it lands — The verse requires a formal commitment to recognize Yahweh as the sovereign authority over both the monarchy and the populace. It demands that political leadership and national identity be explicitly subordinated to divine law.
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 Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people; between the king also and the people.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 5:3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, where King David made with them a covenant before the LORD. And they anointed him king over Israel.
- 2 Chronicles 15:12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul.
- Joshua 24:25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance.
- 2 Chronicles 34:31 So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
- 1 Samuel 10:25 Then Samuel explained to the people the rights of kingship. He wrote them on a scroll and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own home.
- 2 Chronicles 29:10 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us.
- Ezra 10:3 So now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.
- Deuteronomy 5:2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
- Deuteronomy 29:1 These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.
- 2 Kings 11:4 Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards, and had them brought into the house of the LORD. There he made a covenant with them and put them under oath. He showed them the king’s son