Bible Strands
2 Kings 9:37
And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jehu speaks to his soldiers after they have thrown Jezebel from a window at Jezreel. He delivers Elijah’s prophecy to explain the fate of her remains.
The words — The Hebrew נִבְלַת (nivlat) means “corpse” or “carcass,” and כְּדֹמֶן (kedomen) translates literally as “like dung.” These terms describe a state of utter defilement rather than ritual burial.
The thread — This disposal imagery appears in Jeremiah 16:4 and Psalms 83:10, where the unburied dead are left as refuse on the ground. Jeremiah 8:2 extends the motif to those exposed to the sky after death.
Why it lands — The text states that Jezebel’s body will remain unmarked and unrecognizable in Jezreel. It requires the reader to accept that divine judgment overrides human attempts to preserve status or memory.
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 the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 8:2 They will be exposed to the sun and moon, and to all the host of heaven which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up or buried, but will become like dung lying on the ground.
- Psalms 83:10 who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.
- Jeremiah 16:4 “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
- Ecclesiastes 6:3 A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
- Isaiah 14:18 All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.
- Jeremiah 9:22 Declare that this is what the LORD says: “The corpses of men will fall like dung upon the open field, like newly cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.”
- Jeremiah 22:19 He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 25:33 Those slain by the LORD on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like dung lying on the ground.
- Jeremiah 36:20 So the officials went to the king in the courtyard. And having stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, they reported everything to the king.
- Ezekiel 32:23 Her graves are set in the depths of the Pit, and her company is all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who once spread terror in the land of the living.