2 Kings 9 · a question people ask

Where did the LORD say, "I will repay you in this plot of ground"?

In the text

Jehu tells Bidkar to remember how, when "you and I rode together after Ahab his father" (9:25), "the LORD laid this burden on him" (9:25), and gives the words: "Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons" and "I will repay you in this plot of ground" (9:26). These words are not in 1 Kings 21, which doesn't mention Naboth's sons. There the LORD's word to Ahab by Elijah spoke of the place, "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours" (1 Kings 21:19), and of his house, "I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat" (1 Kings 21:22); and when Ahab humbled himself the LORD said, "I will bring the evil on his house in his son’s day" (1 Kings 21:29). This chapter doesn't say which of these words 9:26 gives in other words, or whether it is more of what was said that day; it gives what Jehu remembered, and says Joram was cast on the plot "according to the LORD’s word" (9:26). Whether the word about the dogs and Ahab's blood was kept at Ahab's death (1 Kings 22:38) or here, in his son's day, is an honest question in 1 Kings 21, which sets out the two main readings without choosing. Both readings agree that 1 Kings 22:38 and 9:26 each say the LORD's word was done.

The verses

“Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden on him: ‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will repay you in this plot of ground,’ says the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to the LORD’s word.””
2 Kings 9:25-26 · World English Bible
“You shall speak to him, saying, ‘The LORD says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘The LORD says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.”’””
1 Kings 21:19 · World English Bible
“I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin.””
1 Kings 21:22 · World English Bible
““See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but I will bring the evil on his house in his son’s day.””
1 Kings 21:29 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Kings 9

2 Kings 9: Is it peace?

One of the servants calls the prophet "this madman" (9:11), and the watchman says Jehu "drives furiously" (9:20): in Hebrew, both words come from one root. And "Is all well?", "Is it peace?" and Jezebel's "Do you come in peace" are one Hebrew word, asked five times (9:11, 9:17, 9:18, 9:22, 9:31).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions