Bible Strands
2 Kings 14:9
But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jehoash king of Israel answers the challenge of Amaziah king of Judah after Amaziah demands a face-to-face military confrontation (2 Kings 14:8).
The words — The Hebrew וַיִּשְׁלַח (va.yishlach) translates literally as "and he sent," marking the precise moment Jehoash initiates his response.
The thread — The parable of a lowly plant confronting a towering tree echoes the vegetation council narrative in Judges 9:8, where plants debate legitimate authority.
Why it lands — The text records a thistle demanding a royal marriage alliance only to be crushed by a wild beast, illustrating that ungrounded ambition provokes inevitable defeat. It demands the reader acknowledge the structural reality that pride precedes a fall before applying the warning to personal or national overreach.
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 Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.
Cross-references
- Judges 9:8 One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
- 1 Samuel 13:6 Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.
- 2 Samuel 12:1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.
- 1 Kings 4:33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
- 2 Chronicles 25:10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. And they were furious with Judah and returned home in great anger.
- 2 Chronicles 25:18 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle.
- 2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- Job 31:18 though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—
- Proverbs 26:9 Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
- Song of Solomon 2:2 Like a lily among the thorns is my darling among the maidens.