Bible Strands
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?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joram greets Jehu upon meeting him at Naboth’s vineyard, asking if his arrival brings peace. Jehu immediately replies that peace is impossible while Jezebel’s idolatry and witchcraft continue.
The words — The Hebrew word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) means “peace” and anchors Joram’s question as a political inquiry. Jehu’s response uses the same term to declare that covenant stability cannot exist alongside Jezebel’s corrupt practices.
The thread — The narrative of royal idolatry connects to 1 Kings 16:30, which records Ahab’s evil, and 2 Chronicles 21:13, which condemns Judah’s adoption of Israel’s pagan ways. The description of sorcery and spiritual betrayal parallels the imagery in Nahum 3:4.
Why it lands — The text states that Jehu rejects peace because Jezebel’s practices actively corrupt the land. Readers must assess whether their own allegiances operate under corrupt authority or under divine 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, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?
Cross-references
- 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 also killed your brothers, your father’s family, who were better than you.
- Nahum 3:4 because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.
- 1 Kings 16:30 However, Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.
- 1 Kings 18:4 for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
- 1 Kings 19:1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
- 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.
- 1 Kings 21:25 (Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.
- Isaiah 57:19 bringing praise to their lips. Peace, peace to those far and near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal them.”
- 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.
- Revelation 18:3 All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”