Now the watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, and he called out, “I see a company of troops!” “Choose a rider,” Joram commanded. “Send him out to meet them and ask, ‘Have you come in peace?’”
Parallel translations
- WEB Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’”
- KJV And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?
- NKJV Now a watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company of men.” And Joram said, “Get a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ”
- NASB Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and he said, “I see a company.” And Joram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them and have him ask, ‘Is your intention peace?’ ”
- NLT The watchman on the tower of Jezreel saw Jehu and his company approaching, so he shouted to Joram, “I see a company of troops coming!” “Send out a rider to ask if they are coming in peace,” King Joram ordered.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A watchman in Jezreel saw Jehu's company approaching, and Joram sent a horseman to ask if they came in peace. The unsuspecting king sought reassurance.
Overview
The watchman's report and Joram's anxious inquiry, 'Is it peace?', frame the tension of the approaching judgment. The repeated question throughout the scene becomes ironic, for there can be no peace for the house of Ahab under God's sentence. Joram's caution cannot avert the doom that the LORD has decreed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 1 Sam 16:4So Samuel did what the LORD had said and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?”
- 1 Sam 17:22Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.
- Isa 21:6–9For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.
- Isa 62:6On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves,
- Ezek 33:2–9“Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land choose a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman,
- Acts 20:26–31Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
- 2 Sam 18:24Now David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked out, and saw a man running alone.
- Luke 10:5–6Whatever house you enter, begin by saying, ‘Peace to this house.’
- 1 Kgs 2:15“You know that the kingship was mine,” he said. “All Israel expected that I should reign, but the kingship has turned to my brother, for it has come to him from the LORD.
- Isa 56:10Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
- 2 Sam 13:34Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.”
- 2 Kgs 7:14Then the scouts took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.”
- 2 Kgs 9:19So the king sent out a second horseman, who went to them and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”
- Isa 21:11–12This is the burden against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 9:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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