2 Kings 9:16

9:16 Jehu drove his chariot ¹  to Jezreel, for Joram was recuperating ²  there. (Now King Ahaziah of Judah had come down to visit ³  Joram.)

2 Kings 9:30

9:30 Jehu approached Jezreel. When Jezebel heard the news, she put on some eye liner, ⁴  fixed up her hair, and leaned out the window.

2 Kings 10:7

10:7 When they received the letter, they seized the king’s sons and executed all seventy of them. ⁵  They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.

2 Kings 10:6

10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ⁶  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ⁷  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ⁸  men of the city were raising them.

[9:16]  ¹ tn Heb “rode [or, ‘mounted’] and went.”

[9:16]  ² tn Heb “lying down.”

[9:16]  ³ tn Heb “to see.”

[9:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “she fixed her eyes with antimony.” Antimony (פּוּךְ, pukh) was used as a cosmetic. The narrator portrays her as a prostitute (see Jer 4:30), a role she has played in the spiritual realm (see the note at v. 22).

[10:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “and when the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered seventy men.”

[10:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

[10:6]  ¹¹ sn Jehu’s command is intentionally vague. Does he mean that they should bring the guardians (those who are “heads” over Ahab’s sons) for a meeting, or does he mean that they should bring the literal heads of Ahab’s sons with them? (So LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum) The city leaders interpret his words in the literal sense, but Jehu’s command is so ambiguous he is able to deny complicity in the executions (see v. 9).

[10:6]  ¹² tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.