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?’”
Parallel translations
- 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?
- BSB 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?’”
- 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 16:4Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
- 1 Sam 17:22David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.
- Isa 21:6–9For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.
- Isa 62:6I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on Yahweh, take no rest,
- Ezek 33:2–9Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;
- Acts 20:26–31Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men,
- 2 Sam 18:24Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone.
- Luke 10:5–6Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’
- 1 Kgs 2:15He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from Yahweh.
- Isa 56:10His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
- 2 Sam 13:34But Absalom fled. The young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, many people were coming by way of the hillside behind him.
- 2 Kgs 7:14Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king them sent out to the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.”
- 2 Kgs 9:19Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!”
- Isa 21:11–12The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”
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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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