Lectionary Calendar
Monday, November 24th, 2025
the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

2 Kings 10:7

When the letter arrived, the leaders killed all seventy of the king's sons. They placed their heads in baskets and presented them to Jehu at Jezreel.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ahab;   Basket;   Children;   Enthusiasm;   Government;   Homicide;   Jehu;   Massacre;   Thompson Chain Reference - Baskets;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Jezreel;   Punishments;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Ahab;   Jehu;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Kill, Killing;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Basket;   Behead;   Jezreel;   Writing;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Basket;   Letter;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Elijah;   Jehu;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Jezreel ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jehu;   Writing;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Basket;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Jehu;   Punishments of the Hebrews;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Epistle;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Basket;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Baskets;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered all seventy, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
Hebrew Names Version
It happened, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and killed them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Yizre`el.
King James Version
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.
English Standard Version
And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
New Century Version
When the leaders received the letter, they took the king's sons and killed all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
New English Translation
When they received the letter, they seized the king's sons and executed all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.
Amplified Bible
When the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
New American Standard Bible
When the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy men, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And when the letter came to them, they tooke the Kings sonnes, and slewe the seuentie persons, and layde their heads in baskets, and sent them vnto him to Izreel.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now it happened that when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.
Contemporary English Version
And when these people read Jehu's second letter, they called together all seventy of Ahab's descendants. They killed them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel.
Complete Jewish Bible
When the letter reached them, they seized the king's sons and killed them, all seventy of them, put their heads in baskets and sent them to Yehu in Yizre‘el.
Darby Translation
And it came to pass when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slaughtered seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jizreel.
Easy-to-Read Version
When the leaders of the city received the letter, they took the king's sons and killed all 70 of them. Then the leaders put the heads of the king's sons in baskets and sent the baskets to Jehu at Jezreel.
George Lamsa Translation
And as soon as the letter reached them, they took the kings sons and slew them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.
Good News Translation
When Jehu's letter was received, the leaders of Samaria killed all seventy of Ahab's descendants, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
Lexham English Bible
When the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king, and they killed seventy men. Then they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
Literal Translation
And it happened, when the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king and killed them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent to him in Jezreel.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Now whan this letter came they toke the kynges sonnes, and slewe them euen thre score men and ten, and layed their heades in ba?kettes, and sent them to him vnto Iesrael.
American Standard Version
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them unto him to Jezreel.
Bible in Basic English
And when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and put them to death, all the seventy, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And when the letter came to them, they toke the kinges children, and slue them, euen threescore and ten persons, & layed their heades in baskettes, and sent them to him to Iezrahel.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them unto him to Jezreel.
King James Version (1611)
And it came to passe when the letter came to them, that they tooke the kings sonnes, and slewe seuentie persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Iezreel.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew them, even seventy men, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezrael.
English Revised Version
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them unto him to Jezreel.
Berean Standard Bible
And when the letter arrived, they took the king's sons and slaughtered all seventy of them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne the lettris hadden come to hem, thei token the sones of the kyng, and killiden seuenti men, and puttiden the heedis of hem in coffyns; and senten to hym in to Jezrael.
Young's Literal Translation
And it cometh to pass, at the coming in of the letter unto them, that they take the sons of the king, and slaughter seventy men, and put their heads in baskets, and send unto him to Jezreel,
Update Bible Version
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel.
Webster's Bible Translation
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent [them] to him to Jezreel.
World English Bible
It happened, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and killed them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel.
New King James Version
So it was, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons and slaughtered seventy persons, put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
New Life Bible
When the letter came to them, they took the king's seventy sons and killed them. They put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
New Revised Standard
When the letter reached them, they took the king's sons and killed them, seventy persons; they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And it came to pass, when the letter reached them, that they took the sons of the king, and slew them, seventy persons, - and put their heads in baskets, and sent unto him to Jezreel.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when the letters came to them, they took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezrahel.
Revised Standard Version
And when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons, and slew them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
When the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.

Contextual Overview

1 Ahab had seventy sons living in the city of Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the elders and officials of the city, and to the guardians of King Ahab's sons. He said, 2 "The king's sons are with you, and you have at your disposal chariots, horses, a fortified city, and weapons. As soon as you receive this letter, 3 select the best qualified of your master's sons to be your king, and prepare to fight for Ahab's dynasty." 4 But they were paralyzed with fear and said, "We've seen that two kings couldn't stand against this man! What can we do?" 5 So the palace and city administrators, together with the elders and the guardians of the king's sons, sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants and will do anything you tell us. We will not make anyone king; do whatever you think is best." 6 Jehu responded with a second letter: "If you are on my side and are going to obey me, bring the heads of your master's sons to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow." Now the seventy sons of the king were being cared for by the leaders of Samaria, where they had been raised since childhood. 7 When the letter arrived, the leaders killed all seventy of the king's sons. They placed their heads in baskets and presented them to Jehu at Jezreel. 8 A messenger went to Jehu and said, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons." So Jehu ordered, "Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the city gate, and leave them there until morning." 9 In the morning he went out and spoke to the crowd that had gathered around them. "You are not to blame," he told them. "I am the one who conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these? 10 You can be sure that the message of the Lord that was spoken concerning Ahab's family will not fail. The Lord declared through his servant Elijah that this would happen."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

slew seventy: 2 Kings 10:9, 2 Kings 11:1, Judges 9:5-57, 1 Kings 21:21, 2 Chronicles 21:4, Matthew 14:8-11

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 4:7 - took his head 2 Samuel 14:30 - And Absalom's 2 Samuel 20:21 - his head 1 Kings 21:11 - did as Jezebel Psalms 81:6 - from the pots Proverbs 29:12 - General Hosea 1:4 - and I Hosea 7:7 - devoured Habakkuk 2:10 - consulted

Cross-References

Genesis 2:11
The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found.
1 Kings 10:1
When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, which brought honor to the name of the Lord , she came to test him with hard questions.
Psalms 72:10
The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts.
Isaiah 21:13
This message came to me concerning Arabia: O caravans from Dedan, hide in the deserts of Arabia.
Ezekiel 27:15
Merchants came to you from Dedan. Numerous coastlands were your captive markets; they brought payment in ivory tusks and ebony wood.
Ezekiel 27:22
The merchants of Sheba and Raamah came with all kinds of spices, jewels, and gold in exchange for your wares.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it came to pass, when the letter came to them,.... They did not in the least hesitate, but immediately complied with the contents of it:

that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons; which was the whole number of them:

and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel; as a present to Jehu, just as they carried the firstfruits, as Abarbinel observes.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Kings 10:7. Put their heads in baskets — What cold-blooded wretches were the whole of these people!


 
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