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2 Kings 10:28–33 — Jehu Repeats Jeroboam’s Sins. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

Thus Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yê·hū ’eṯ- way·yaš·mêḏ hab·ba·‘al mî·yiś·rā·’êl

Word by word5 · parsed

יֵה֛וּאyê·hūThus JehuH3058

√ Yêhûwʼ — Jehu, the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וַיַּשְׁמֵ֥דway·yaš·mêḏeradicatedH8045

√ shâmad — to desolateConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

shâmad: to desolate (Hifil) A verb of total, causative undoing. Jehu does to Baal what the covenant threatens against the unfaithful. Ellicott's judgment turns on the gap between the act and the actor: objectively the deed matches the Law, subjectively the motive is policy. The Hebrew reports only the deed, and the narrator lets the next verse supply the verdict.

הַבַּ֖עַלhab·ba·‘alBaalH1168

√ Baʻal — Baal, a Phoenician deityArticleNounpropermasculine singular

Baʻal: a Phoenician deity The imported god of the house of Ahab, whose priesthood, as Ellicott observes, depended on that dynasty and therefore fell with it. Pulpit records that the Baal cult is never again said to revive in the ten tribes, so this verse is a real and permanent gain, which makes the immediate "only" of v. 29 all the more severe.

מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃mî·yiś·rā·’êlfrom IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobPreposition-mNounpropermasculine singular

The preposition min marks a removal out of the land, the same land the narrative will shortly see shortened.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-exterminated Jehu the-Baal from-Israel.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיַּשְׁמֵ֥ד וַיַּשְׁמֵד (way·yaš·mêḏ, Hifil consecutive imperfect of shâmad, H8045) is not the mild "eradicated" of a garden weed. Strong's root sense is to desolate, and the Hifil is causative: Jehu made Baal desolate out of Israel. It is the stem used elsewhere of annihilating a people, not of tidying one away; BSB's "eradicated" keeps the result and drops the violence of the stem.
הַבַּ֖עַל הַבַּעַל (hab·ba·‘al, H1168) carries the article: the Baal, the deity as an institution, cult and temple and priesthood together, not merely a statue. Barnes notes that at the temple "the image of Baal, which was 'broken down,' and not burned, would seem to have been of stone"; the Hebrew object here is the whole worship, which is why Cambridge can say the false worship had no fosterers left.
מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל (mî·yiś·rā·’êl) is the preposition min, "from, out from a part of," fixed to the covenant name. The destruction is bounded: Baal is removed from Israel, from the northern kingdom as a territory, which is exactly the territory that verses 32 and 33 will begin cutting away.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

He departed from the sins of Ahab, but not from the sins of Jeroboam: discarded Baal, but adhered to the calves.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

To abolish the calf-worship was a thought which had probably never occurred to Jehu.

Barnes is reconstructing Jehu's inner horizon, which the Hebrew does not report; read it as a judgment about probability, not a stated fact of the text.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

but the sins of Jeroboam, the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, that is to say, the idolatrous worship of Jehovah, he allowed to remain.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Jehu had no intention of carrying his zeal for the Lord beyond a certain point

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but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

raq yê·hū lō- sār mê·’a·ḥă·rê·hem ḥă·ṭā·’ê yā·rā·ḇə·‘ām ben- nə·ḇāṭ ’ă·šer yiś·rā·’êl he·ḥĕ·ṭî ’eṯ- haz·zā·hāḇ ’ă·šer bêṯ- ‘eḡ·lê ’êl wa·’ă·šer bə·ḏān

Word by word20 · parsed

רַ֠קraqbutH7535

√ raq — properly, leanness, iAdverb

raq: only, merely A single adverb that reverses the direction of the whole paragraph. Ellicott identifies it as the compiler's fixed formula for qualifying a king's record, which makes this verse, in his words, "a parenthetic qualification of the approval implied in 2 Kings 10:28."

יֵה֖וּאyê·hū[he]H3058

√ Yêhûwʼ — Jehu, the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

לֹֽא־lō-did notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

סָ֥רsārturn awayH5493

√ çûwr — to turn off (literal or figurative)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

çûwr: to turn off (Qal perfect) The narrative's key verb of repentance, and it is negated here and again at v. 31. Jehu turned Israel away from Baal without turning himself away from Bethel: an outward reformation with no corresponding movement in the man.

מֵאַֽחֲרֵיהֶ֑םmê·’a·ḥă·rê·hemfromH310

√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition-mthird person masculine plural

חֲטָאֵ֞יḥă·ṭā·’êthe sinsH2399

√ chêṭᵉʼ — a crime or its penaltyNounmasculine plural construct

chêṭᵉʼ: a crime or its penalty The construct chain binds the crime to a name. "The sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat" is, as Gill says, "the common character given of that king, a blot never to be wiped off," the standing formula by which every northern king is measured.

יָרָבְעָ֤םyā·rā·ḇə·‘āmthat JeroboamH3379

√ Yârobʻâm — Jarobam, the name of two Israelite kingsNounpropermasculine singular

בֶּן־ben-sonH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct

נְבָט֙nə·ḇāṭof NebatH5028

√ Nᵉbâṭ — Nebat, the father of Jeroboam INounpropermasculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êlhad caused IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

הֶחֱטִ֣יאhe·ḥĕ·ṭîto commitH2398

√ châṭâʼ — properly, to missVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular

châṭâʼ: to miss (Hifil) The causative stem makes Jeroboam the author of a national miss, not merely a private one. This is why the calves are not a lesser matter than Baal for the narrator: Baal was the dynasty's imported sin, the calves are the nation's manufactured one, and Jehu inherits and keeps the machinery.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

הַזָּהָ֔בhaz·zā·hāḇthe worship of the goldenH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iArticleNounmasculine singular

zâhâb: gold The metal names the sin's ancestry. Gold is what became a calf at Sinai (Exodus 32:4) and again at Bethel and Dan, so the adjective quietly files Jeroboam's shrines under Israel's oldest apostasy. Jehu pulled down the imported shrine of stone and left the native shrines of gold standing, which is Benson's whole point: the costly idol goes, the profitable one stays.

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בֵּֽית־bêṯ-H1008

√ Bêyth-ʼÊl — Beth-El, a place in PalestinePreposition

עֶגְלֵי֙‘eḡ·lêcalvesH5695

√ ʻêgel — a (male) calf (as frisking round), especially one nearly grown (iNounmasculine plural construct

ʻêgel: a (male) calf Cambridge corrects a natural misreading of the plural: "From 1 Kings 12:28-29, we see that only one image was in each place." The Hebrew plural is distributive across the two shrines. K&D reads the phrase as "a supplementary and explanatory apposition to 'the sins of Jeroboam,'" that is, the calves are not an added charge but the content of the charge, and specifically "the idolatrous worship of Jehovah," a corrupted worship of the right God.

אֵ֖ל’êlat BethelH1008

√ Bêyth-ʼÊl — Beth-El, a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular

וַאֲשֶׁ֥רwa·’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatConjunctive wawPronounrelative

בְּדָֽן׃סbə·ḏānand DanH1835

√ Dân — Dan, one of the sons of JacobPreposition-bNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Only the-sins of-Jeroboam son-of-Nebat, who he-caused-to-sin Israel, not-turned-aside Jehu from-after-them: the-calves the-gold which in-Bethel and-which in-Dan.

Where the English smooths the original

רַ֠ק רַק (raq, H7535) is rendered "but" in BSB, which reads as a simple contrast. Strong's root sense is leanness, hence "only, merely." Ellicott names it as the redactor's technical word: "the word constantly used by the redactor to qualify his estimate of the conduct of the kings," comparing 2 Kings 12:3, 14:4, 15:4. It does not contrast two independent reports; it subtracts from the praise just granted.
סָ֥ר סָר (sār, Qal perfect of çûwr, H5493) means to turn off, turn aside. BSB's "did not turn away from" is accurate but flat: the idiom is spatial, the image of a man on a road who does not leave it. Jehu had turned Israel off the Baal road; he would not turn off this one.
מֵאַֽחֲרֵיהֶ֑ם מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם (mê·’a·ḥă·rê·hem, min plus ʼachar, H310, "the hind part") is literally "from after them," the posture of a follower walking behind. BSB's "from the sins" loses the picture: Jehu is still walking behind the calves. Gill glosses the pronoun as "to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan."
הֶחֱטִ֣יא הֶחֱטִיא (he·ḥĕ·ṭî, Hifil perfect of châṭâʼ, H2398) is causative: not "Jeroboam sinned" but "Jeroboam made Israel sin." Strong's root sense of châṭâʼ is properly to miss, to miss the mark. BSB's "had caused Israel to commit" preserves the causative; Cambridge notes the Revised Version's "wherewith he made Israel to sin," and flags the same change at v. 31.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Thus God approves and rewards his zeal, in executing God's judgment, though his wickedness was later punished.

The Geneva note (marked "l" in the original margin) is unusually balanced for a gloss of one line: it holds the reward and the later punishment together without resolving the tension, which is what the Hebrew does too.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The partial obedience of Jehu obtains the gift of a succession for four generations.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

and this is generally supposed, by the Jews (w), to be Jonah the son of Amittai

Gill is reporting a rabbinic tradition (he cites Seder Olam Rabbah, c. 19), not the text. The narrative names no prophet here; treat the identification as tradition, not data.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

refers to the deed as such, and not to the subjective motives by which Jehu had been actuated.

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Nevertheless, the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh way·yō·mer ’el- yê·hū ya·‘an ’ă·šer- hĕ·ṭî·ḇō·ṯā la·‘ă·śō·wṯ hay·yā·šār bə·‘ê·nay ‘ā·śî·ṯā lə·ḇêṯ ’aḥ·’āḇ kə·ḵōl ’ă·šer bil·ḇā·ḇî rə·ḇi·‘îm bə·nê yê·šə·ḇū lə·ḵā ‘al- kis·sê yiś·rā·’êl

Word by word23 · parsed

יְהוָ֜הYah·wehNevertheless, the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֹּ֨אמֶרway·yō·mersaidH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

יֵה֗וּאyê·hūJehuH3058

√ Yêhûwʼ — Jehu, the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

יַ֤עַןya·‘anBecauseH3282

√ yaʻan — properly, heedAdverb

yaʻan: properly, heed The verdict particle. It opens a sentence pronounced by God through a prophet, since Jehu is not one: Barnes and Pulpit both suggest Elisha, Poole and Benson say simply "by some prophet," and Gill reports a Jewish tradition naming Jonah son of Amittai. The text itself names no messenger.

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

הֱטִיבֹ֙תָ֙hĕ·ṭî·ḇō·ṯāyou have done wellH2895

√ ṭôwb — to be (transitively, do or make) good (or well) in the widest senseVerbHifilPerfectsecond person masculine singular

ṭôwb: to be or do good (Hifil) A causative of doing, not a description of being. This single stem carries the entire theological problem of the unit: God truly commends a work whose doer he will not commend, and the commendation is exact, bounded, and, as Poole and Cambridge both insist, partial.

לַעֲשׂ֤וֹתla·‘ă·śō·wṯin carrying outH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

הַיָּשָׁר֙hay·yā·šārwhat is rightH3477

√ yâshâr — straight (literally or figuratively)ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

yâshâr: straight With the article and the phrase "in my eyes," the standard is not Jehu's estimate of the deed but God's. Straightness is measured, like a line, against something outside the one being measured.

בְּעֵינַ֔יbə·‘ê·nayin My sightH5869

√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdcfirst person common singular

עָשִׂ֖יתָ‘ā·śî·ṯāand have doneH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular

לְבֵ֣יתlə·ḇêṯto the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

אַחְאָ֑ב’aḥ·’āḇof AhabH256

√ ʼAchʼâb — Achab, the name of a king of Israel and of a prophet at BabylonNounpropermasculine singular

כְּכֹל֙kə·ḵōlallH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-kNounmasculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בִּלְבָבִ֔יbil·ḇā·ḇîwas in My heartH3824

√ lêbâb — the heart (as the most interior organ)Preposition-bNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular

lêbâb: the heart, the most interior organ The LORD's heart is the pattern the deed matched. Everything Jehu executed against the house of Ahab corresponded to a divine intention; nothing in Jehu corresponded to it. That is why the reward in the next clause is dynastic and temporal rather than covenantal.

רְבִעִ֔יםrə·ḇi·‘îmfour generationsH7243

√ rᵉbîyʻîy — fourthNumberordinal masculine plural

rᵉbîyʻîy: fourth The measured, countable reward. Commentators agree on the fulfilment: Benson, Poole, Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit all name Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam II and Zechariah, and point to 2 Kings 15:12 where the record closes. Cambridge sets it against David's promise of "a lamp before God for ever," so the number is itself the verdict: a limited obedience buys a limited house.

בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêof your sonsH1121

יֵשְׁב֥וּyê·šə·ḇūwill sitH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural

לְךָ֖lə·ḵā

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

עַל־‘al-onH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

כִּסֵּ֥אkis·sêthe throneH3678

√ kiççêʼ — properly, covered, iNounmasculine singular construct

kiççêʼ: properly, covered, a throne Strong's root sense is properly covered, a canopied seat. The promise is occupancy of a chair, not a covenant with a house: no oath, no everlasting, no lamp. Cambridge feels the difference and states it, contrasting David's promise that "he shall not be without a lamp before God for ever" with Jehu's "gift of a succession for four generations," and Barnes measures the gift in years, more than a hundred, longer than any other Israelite dynasty. Even the generous reading of it is a number.

יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃yiś·rā·’êlof IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-said YHWH to-Jehu: “Because that you-did-good to-do the-right in-my-eyes, according-to-all which was in-my-heart you-did to-house-of-Ahab, sons of-a-fourth-generation shall-sit to-thee upon the-throne of-Israel.”

Where the English smooths the original

יַ֤עַן יַעַן (ya·‘an, H3282) is glossed "Because" in BSB, but Strong's root sense is properly heed, attention: "in view of, on account of." It is the formal particle of a judicial verdict, the same register in which a sentence is passed, and here it introduces a reward rather than a doom.
הֱטִיבֹ֙תָ֙ הֱטִיבֹתָ (hĕ·ṭî·ḇō·ṯā, Hifil perfect of ṭôwb, H2895) is not "you were good" but "you did well, you made good." BSB's "you have done well in carrying out" is right, and the Hifil is precisely what the commentators seize: it commends performance, not character. K&D: the sentence "refers to the deed as such, and not to the subjective motives by which Jehu had been actuated."
בִּלְבָבִ֔י בִּלְבָבִי (bil·ḇā·ḇî, lêbâb H3824 with first person suffix) is "in my heart," God's own inner purpose. BSB keeps it. The word is the hinge of the unit: the LORD's heart is fully executed by Jehu in v. 30, and Jehu's own heart is found divided in v. 31, the same noun on both sides of the ledger.
רְבִעִ֔ים רְבִעִים (rə·ḇi·‘îm, H7243, ordinal "fourth," masculine plural) is literally "sons of a fourth generation" belonging to you. BSB's "four generations of your sons" reads naturally but slightly rewrites the idiom, which counts to the fourth, not four alongside. Ellicott hears in the phrase the wording of the second commandment, "visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation" (Exodus 20:5), now inverted into a promise.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

His obedience wanted three necessary properties, care or heedfulness, universality, and sincerity.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

He had done honour to Jehovah by extirpating the foreign Baal-worship, but he supported the irregular mode of worshipping Jehovah established by Jeroboam as the state religion of the Northern kingdom.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

a union of cold, remorseless tenacity with occasional bursts of furious, wayward, almost fanatical zeal

These words are not the Pulpit commentator's own: he is quoting Dean Stanley's 'Lectures on the Jewish Church,' and immediately adds that "the estimate is lower than that formed by most other writers." Weigh it as one nineteenth century reading, not a consensus.

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Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·yê·hū lō šā·mar lā·le·ḵeṯ bə·ṯō·w·raṯ- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê- yiś·rā·’êl bə·ḵāl lə·ḇā·ḇōw lō sār mê·‘al ḥaṭ·ṭō·wṯ ’ă·šer yā·rā·ḇə·‘ām yiś·rā·’êl he·ḥĕ·ṭî ’eṯ-

Word by word19 · parsed

וְיֵה֗וּאwə·yê·hūYet JehuH3058

√ Yêhûwʼ — Jehu, the name of five IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

לֹ֥אlōwas notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

שָׁמַ֛רšā·marcarefulH8104

√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

shâmar: to hedge about (as with thorns) The verb of the watchman and the vineyard keeper. Negated, it says Jehu set no guard on his own conduct: not that he tried and failed, but that he never posted the watch. Ellicott would render the clause "Now Jehu had not been careful," and takes it, not v. 32, as the beginning of a new paragraph.

לָלֶ֛כֶתlā·le·ḵeṯto followH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

בְּתֽוֹרַת־bə·ṯō·w·raṯ-the instructionH8451

√ tôwrâh — a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or PentateuchPreposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

tôwrâh: a precept or statute, the Decalogue or Pentateuch The standard named at last. Everything Jehu did against Baal can be defended from the Law, as Pulpit shows by citing Exodus 22:20, Exodus 32:27 and Numbers 25:5; what the Law also forbids, images, he retained. Obedience selected by interest is the unit's definition of an uncircumcised heart.

יְהוָ֥הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֵֽי־’ĕ·lō·hê-the GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural construct

ʼĕlôhîym: God In construct with Israel, the title is pointed: the God of Israel, whose own nation is being worshipped under the form of a calf at Israel's own shrines.

יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לyiś·rā·’êlof IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

בְּכָל־bə·ḵālwith allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

לְבָב֑וֹlə·ḇā·ḇōwhis heartH3824

√ lêbâb — the heart (as the most interior organ)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

lêbâb: the heart The same noun that named God's purpose in v. 30 now names Jehu's deficiency. The two verses are a single sentence in effect: what was in God's heart was wholly done, what was in Jehu's heart was never wholly given.

לֹ֣אlōHe did notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

סָ֗רsārturn awayH5493

√ çûwr — to turn off (literal or figurative)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

çûwr: to turn off (Qal perfect) The verb of v. 29 repeated verbatim, and the repetition is the argument. Benson's summary of it is the sharpest in the brief: true religion turns not only from the sins that cost us but from the sins that pay us.

מֵעַל֙mê·‘alfromH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition-m

חַטֹּ֣אותḥaṭ·ṭō·wṯthe sinsH2403

√ chaṭṭâʼâh — an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness), and its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, or expiationNounfeminine plural construct

chaṭṭâʼâh: an offence, sometimes habitual sinfulness Note the change of noun from v. 29: there chêṭᵉʼ (H2399, the crime), here chaṭṭâʼâh (H2403), which Strong's defines as an offence and also as habitual sinfulness and its penalty. The second telling names the settled habit, and the penalty follows in the very next verse.

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יָֽרָבְעָ֔םyā·rā·ḇə·‘āmJeroboamH3379

√ Yârobʻâm — Jarobam, the name of two Israelite kingsNounpropermasculine singular

יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃yiś·rā·’êlhad caused IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

הֶחֱטִ֖יאhe·ḥĕ·ṭîto commitH2398

√ châṭâʼ — properly, to missVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Jehu not-kept-watch to-walk in-the-tôrâh of-YHWH, God-of-Israel, with-all-his-heart. Not he-turned-aside from-upon the-sins of-Jeroboam, which he-caused-to-sin Israel.

Where the English smooths the original

שָׁמַ֛ר שָׁמַר (šā·mar, Qal perfect, H8104) is BSB's "was not careful," which sounds like carelessness. Strong's root sense is properly to hedge about (as with thorns), hence to guard, watch, keep. Jehu did not set a hedge around his walking. Henry's blunt line follows the same image: "Those that are heedless, it is to be feared, are graceless."
לָלֶ֛כֶת לָלֶכֶת (lā·le·ḵeṯ, infinitive construct of hâlak, H1980) is "to walk," the standing Hebrew figure for a whole manner of life. BSB's "to follow" is idiomatic but abstracts the metaphor away just where it matters, because the same paragraph has already said Jehu kept walking "after" the calves (v. 29).
בְּתֽוֹרַת־ בְּתוֹרַת (bə·ṯō·w·raṯ, tôwrâh, H8451) is "in the instruction of the LORD," with the preposition b: the Torah is the place one walks in, not a rule one follows at a distance. Strong's defines it as a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch, and Ellicott specifies "the Mosaic law, which forbids the use of images, such as the 'calves.'"
בְּכָל־ בְּכָל־לְבָבוֹ (bə·ḵāl lə·ḇā·ḇōw, kôl H3605 with lêbâb H3824) is "with all his heart," the exact measure of Deuteronomy 6:5. BSB keeps it, but the English reads as intensity where the Hebrew is quantitative: the whole of the heart, with no remainder held back. Poole: "His obedience wanted three necessary properties, care or heedfulness, universality, and sincerity."

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

What had been part of Israel’s possessions, was severed from it, and passed into the power of Hazael and the Syrians.

source ↗

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

It is certainly not stated in direct terms that the ill success of Jehu's foreign wars was a punishment on him for his continued maintenance of the calf-idolatry; but the juxtaposition of vers. 31 and 32 naturally raises the idea

An unusually careful admission: the commentator wants the judgment reading and still says the text does not state it. Our own reading below leans on the same juxtaposition and inherits the same limit.

source ↗

John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

this was done in the days of Jehu, though he was so active and courageous, wherefore the hand of God was the more seen in it

source ↗

In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hā·hêm bay·yā·mîm Yah·weh hê·ḥêl lə·qaṣ·ṣō·wṯ bə·yiś·rā·’êl ḥă·zā·’êl way·yak·kêm yiś·rā·’êl bə·ḵāl gə·ḇūl

Word by word11 · parsed

הָהֵ֔םhā·hêmIn thoseH1992

√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)ArticlePronounthird person masculine plural

The demonstrative "those days" ties the loss to Jehu's reign, not to a later one; K&D argues from 2 Kings 8:28-29 that Hazael was already fighting Israel before Jehu took the throne.

בַּיָּמִ֣יםbay·yā·mîmdaysH3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine plural

יְהוָ֔הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

הֵחֵ֣לhê·ḥêlbeganH2490

√ châlal — properly, to bore, iVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular

châlal: properly, to bore (Hifil) A beginning that is also an incision. What starts here does not stop: the same shrinking runs through the book until the land is gone entirely. Henry draws the moral link plainly, that they were "short in their duty to God, therefore God cut them short in their extent, wealth, and power."

לְקַצּ֖וֹתlə·qaṣ·ṣō·wṯto reduce the sizeH7096

√ qâtsâh — to cut offPreposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct

qâtsâh: to cut off One of the rarest verbs in this unit, in only five verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. Ellicott's gloss, to cut off the extremities, is grimly apt for a kingdom losing its limbs, and Pulpit calls the juxtaposition of vv. 31 and 32 a strong presumption that the writer intended the loss as judgment, while honestly noting that the text does not say so in direct terms.

בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑לbə·yiś·rā·’êlof IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobPreposition-bNounpropermasculine singular

חֲזָאֵ֖לḥă·zā·’êlHazaelH2371

√ Chăzâʼêl — Chazael, a king of SyriaNounpropermasculine singular

Chăzâʼêl: Hazael, a king of Syria The sword Elijah was told to appoint at Horeb (1 Kings 19:15-17) and the man Elisha wept over in 2 Kings 8:12. Benson, Poole and Gill all read this verse as the execution of that prediction.

וַיַּכֵּ֥םway·yak·kêmdefeatedH5221

√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural

nâkâh: to strike, lightly or severely (Hifil) A verb wide enough to cover a blow of any weight, here with the suffix doing the work of a direct object, so that the nation appears only as "them." Note the division of labour across the verse: the LORD is the subject who begins, Hazael is the subject who strikes. The executioner is a Syrian; the sentence is not.

יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃yiś·rā·’êlthe IsraelitesH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

בְּכָל־bə·ḵālthroughoutH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

גְּב֥וּלgə·ḇūltheir territoryH1366

√ gᵉbûwl — properly, a cord (as twisted), iNounmasculine singular construct

gᵉbûwl: properly, a cord (as twisted), a border The border is a measured line, and the line was given by God at the conquest. To cut the cord is to reverse the allotment, which is what v. 33 then itemizes, tribe by tribe.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

In-the-days the-those began YHWH to-cut-off in-Israel; and-he-struck-them Hazael in-all-the-border of-Israel.

Where the English smooths the original

הֵחֵ֣ל הֵחֵל (hê·ḥêl, Hifil perfect of châlal, H2490) is "began," and BSB renders it so. Strong's gives the root sense as properly to bore, to pierce through, which is the image behind both beginning (breaking into a thing) and profaning. The subject is the decisive divergence: the LORD is the one who begins, and Hazael is only the instrument in the second clause.
לְקַצּ֖וֹת לְקַצּוֹת (lə·qaṣ·ṣō·wṯ, Piel infinitive of qâtsâh, H7096) is a rare verb, found in only five verses. BSB's "to reduce the size of Israel" is a paraphrase. Ellicott is exact: "Literally, to cut off in Israel, i.e., to cut off part after part of Israelite territory. (The verb means to cut off the extremities, Proverbs 26:6.)" Cambridge adds that the preposition is odd ("in" rather than "from") and that the context settles the sense.
וַיַּכֵּ֥ם וַיַּכֵּם (way·yak·kêm, Hifil of nâkâh, H5221, with third masculine plural suffix) is "and he struck them." The suffix, not a separate noun, carries the object: Israel is reduced to a pronoun under Hazael's hand. BSB supplies "the Israelites" for clarity and loses the grammatical smallness.
גְּב֥וּל גְּבוּל (gə·ḇūl, H1366) is rendered "their territory." Strong's root sense is properly a cord (as twisted), the measuring line, and from that the boundary it marks. The nation's measured line is precisely what the rare verb of the first clause is cutting. Cambridge notes that the Authorized Version's "coasts" simply meant border land, with no relation to the sea.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The loss of the entire trans-Jordanic territory seems to be intended, or at any rate its complete ruin and devastation

source ↗

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

After this notice Bashan, which in the early days is often spoken of in connexion with Og, the king whom the Israelites vanquished on entering the land, disappears from the Bible history. Hazael’s conquest was never recovered.

source ↗

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

is added to make it clear that the whole of the land east of the Jordan, and not merely Gilead in the narrower sense, was conquered by Hazael.

source ↗

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

We find him, on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II., mentioned as a stubborn adversary of the Assyrian arms.

Pulpit is reporting from 'Records of the Past' in the 1880s, the first generation of Assyriology; the regnal numbering of Assyrian kings used there has since been revised, so take the monument detail as a nineteenth century report rather than a settled datum of this brief.

source ↗

from the Jordan eastward through all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh), and from Aroer by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

min- hay·yar·dên miz·raḥ haš·še·meš ’êṯ kāl- ’e·reṣ hag·gil·‘āḏ hag·gā·ḏî wə·hā·ru·w·ḇê·nî wə·ham·naš·šî mê·‘ă·rō·‘êr ’ă·šer ‘al- ’ar·nōn na·ḥal wə·hag·gil·‘āḏ wə·hab·bā·šān

Word by word18 · parsed

מִן־min-fromH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

הַיַּרְדֵּן֙hay·yar·dênthe JordanH3383

√ Yardên — Jarden, the principal river of PalestineArticleNounproperfeminine singular

מִזְרַ֣חmiz·raḥeastwardH4217

√ mizrâch — sunrise, iNounmasculine singular construct

mizrâch: sunrise Direction named by daybreak. The whole verse is a survey document, and its cadence (from X, by Y, even Z) is the cadence of the allotment texts in Deuteronomy and Joshua.

הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁhaš·še·meš. . .H8121

√ shemesh — the sunArticleNouncommon singular

אֵ֚ת’êṯH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

כָּל־kāl-through allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

אֶ֣רֶץ’e·reṣthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular construct

הַגִּלְעָ֔דhag·gil·‘āḏof GileadH1568

√ Gilʻâd — Gilad, a region East of the JordanArticleNounproperfeminine singular

Gilʻâd: a region East of the Jordan Cambridge describes it as mountainous country chosen by Reuben, Gad and Manasseh for its pasturage, and reckons that with its loss "one quarter of the whole ten tribes was thus taken from her." Gilead is also where Jehu's own coup began, at Ramoth-gilead (2 Kings 9:14), which makes the loss painfully symmetrical.

הַגָּדִ֥יhag·gā·ḏîthe region of GadH1425

√ Gâdîy — a Gadite (collectively) or descendants of GadArticleNounpropermasculine singular

וְהָרֻאובֵנִ֖יwə·hā·ru·w·ḇê·nîReubenH7206

√ Rᵉʼûwbênîy — a Reubenite or descendant of ReubenConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine singular

וְהַֽמְנַשִּׁ֑יwə·ham·naš·šîand ManassehH4520

√ Mᵉnashshîy — a Menashshite or descendant of MenashshehConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine singular

מֵעֲרֹעֵר֙mê·‘ă·rō·‘êrand from AroerH6177

√ ʻĂrôwʻêr — Aroer, the name of three places in or near PalestinePreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

ʻĂrôwʻêr: Aroer The southern survey stake of Israel's holding east of Jordan. Its appearance here, paired with Bashan at the north, is the writer's way of saying that nothing between the stakes was left: Cambridge, "Nothing was left to Israel, east of the Jordan."

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

עַל־‘al-byH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

אַרְנֹ֔ן’ar·nōnthe ArnonH769

√ ʼArnôwn — the Arnon, a river east of the Jordan, also its territoryNounproperfeminine singular

נַ֣חַלna·ḥalValleyH5158

√ nachal — a stream, especially a winter torrentNounmasculine singular construct

nachal: a stream, especially a winter torrent A seasonal watercourse used as a permanent boundary. It marked Israel from Moab (Numbers 21:13) and marks here the outer edge of what is now lost.

וְהַגִּלְעָ֖דwə·hag·gil·‘āḏthrough GileadH1568

√ Gilʻâd — Gilad, a region East of the JordanConjunctive waw, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular

וְהַבָּשָֽׁן׃wə·hab·bā·šānto BashanH1316

√ Bâshân — Bashan (often with the article), a region East of the JordanConjunctive waw, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular

Bâshân: Bashan The northern half of the trans-Jordan grant, famous for oaks and cattle. Cambridge notes something the English reader would never catch: after this notice Bashan "disappears from the Bible history" as a possession, and the conquest of Hazael was never recovered. The land Israel took first, under Moses, is the land it loses first and finally.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

From-the-Jordan, sunrise-ward, all the-land of-the-Gilead: the-Gadite and-the-Reubenite and-the-Manassite, from-Aroer which is-by the-wadi-of-Arnon, and-the-Gilead and-the-Bashan.

Where the English smooths the original

מִזְרַ֣ח מִזְרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ (miz·raḥ haš·še·meš, H4217 with H8121) is not the bare compass word "eastward" but "the rising of the sun," a construct phrase naming the direction by the event that marks it. K&D renders it "from Jordan to the sun-rising." BSB's "eastward" is correct and colorless.
הַגָּדִ֥י הַגָּדִי (hag·gā·ḏî, H1425) and its two companions are gentilic singulars with the article, "the Gadite, the Reubenite, the Manassite," each clan named as one body. BSB's "the region of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh" turns people into real estate. The Hebrew loses tribes, not just acreage.
נַ֣חַל נַחַל (na·ḥal, H5158) is glossed "Valley" in BSB. Strong's is specific: a stream, especially a winter torrent, the wadi that floods in the rains and is dry in summer. Cambridge insists on the correction, calling the Authorized Version's "river" wrong and preferring the Revised Version's "valley of Arnon."
מֵעֲרֹעֵר֙ מֵעֲרֹעֵר (mê·‘ă·rō·‘êr, H6177) is "from Aroer," a name that appears in only sixteen verses, and one of the fixed survey markers of the trans-Jordan grant (Deuteronomy 2:36, 3:12). K&D identifies it as "now Araayr, a ruin on the northern border of the Mojeb (Arnon) valley." BSB keeps the name; what the English cannot show is that the list is the conquest survey read backwards.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The temple torn down, and the verdict withheld — 10:28

The Hebrew of v. 28 is one clause and one causative verb: וַיַּשְׁמֵד (way·yaš·mêḏ, Hifil of shâmad, H8045, "to desolate"). Jehu made Baal desolate out of Israel. Cambridge judges the result permanent, that the false worship "had not taken such root in the land that it could ever revive again," and Pulpit agrees that Baal worship "is not said to have been revived in the kingdom of the ten tribes." Henry grounds the act in law: "The law of God was express, that idolaters were to be put to death." Ellicott alone drives the wedge that the rest of the unit widens, distinguishing the objective deed, "in perfect harmony with the Law," from the subjective motive, "thoroughly selfish," and arguing from Jehu's maintenance of Jeroboam's cultus that he acted from policy. ⚙ Note what the Hebrew does and does not do here: it reports the deed with a verb of total destruction and passes no sentence. The verdict is held back exactly one word, until the רַק of v. 29.

ii. Raq: the one word that audits a reformation — 10:29 to 10:31

רַק (raq, H7535) is, on Ellicott's evidence, the compiler's technical word, "constantly used by the redactor to qualify his estimate of the conduct of the kings" (compare 2 Kings 12:3, 14:4, 15:4), so that v. 29 is "a parenthetic qualification of the approval implied in 2 Kings 10:28." What it qualifies is precise: Jehu did not turn aside (çûwr, H5493) from walking מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם, "from after them," still in the train of the calves. K&D names the theological category exactly: the calves are "the idolatrous worship of Jehovah," a corrupt worship of the right God, and the phrase is "a supplementary and explanatory apposition to 'the sins of Jeroboam.'" The commentators agree on the motive and differ only in temperature. JFB: Jehu "had no intention of carrying his zeal for the Lord beyond a certain point." Poole: "herein he discovers his hypocrisy, that he follows God as far as his interest would permit." Barnes goes further and guesses at Jehu's horizon, that abolishing the calf worship "was a thought which had probably never occurred to Jehu," which is a reconstruction, not a datum. Benson supplies the moral anatomy: Jehu "departed from the sins of Ahab, but not from the sins of Jeroboam: discarded Baal, but adhered to the calves," because the one cost him nothing and the other would have cost him the kingdom.

Then, astonishingly, God commends him. הֱטִיבֹתָ (hĕ·ṭî·ḇō·ṯā, Hifil of ṭôwb, H2895) is causative doing, and K&D reads the whole divine sentence as referring "to the deed as such, and not to the subjective motives by which Jehu had been actuated." Geneva's one line holds both halves without flinching: "Thus God approves and rewards his zeal, in executing God's judgment, though his wickedness was later punished." The reward is counted, not covenanted: sons to the fourth generation on the throne, which Benson, Poole, Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit all trace to Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam II and Zechariah, closing at 2 Kings 15:12. Cambridge frames the arithmetic as verdict, setting Jehu's four against David's lamp "before God for ever." Verse 31 then supplies the missing measure: שָׁמַר (shâmar, H8104, root sense "to hedge about as with thorns") negated, no guard set, and בְּכָל־לְבָבוֹ, "with all his heart," withheld. Poole's summary is the cleanest in the brief: "His obedience wanted three necessary properties, care or heedfulness, universality, and sincerity." ⚙ The grammar makes the point the commentators make morally: lêbâb appears on both sides, God's whole heart executed in v. 30, Jehu's whole heart missing in v. 31.

iii. The cord cut: judgment written as geography — 10:32 to 10:33

The rare verb arrives at v. 32: לְקַצּוֹת (qâtsâh, H7096), found in only five verses in the Hebrew Bible. Ellicott renders it "to cut off part after part of Israelite territory" and glosses the root as cutting off the extremities, citing Proverbs 26:6. What is cut is גְּבוּל (gᵉbûwl, H1366), whose root sense in Strong's is a twisted cord, the measuring line of an inheritance. And the subject of the cutting is not Hazael: the LORD began, and Hazael struck. K&D, honest about his own inference, admits that the causal link between v. 31 and v. 32 "follows from the actual fact, though it is not distinctly mentioned in the text"; Pulpit says the same with equal care, that the judgment reading "is certainly not stated in direct terms" but that "the juxtaposition of vers. 31 and 32 naturally raises the idea." Henry states the equation without hedging: they were "short in their duty to God, therefore God cut them short in their extent, wealth, and power."

Verse 33 is then a survey document read in reverse. Its markers, Aroer, the Arnon wadi, Gilead, Bashan, are the fixed stakes of the trans-Jordan allotment under Moses, and Cambridge counts the cost at "one quarter of the whole ten tribes," concluding that "nothing was left to Israel, east of the Jordan" and that "Hazael's conquest was never recovered." Gill puts the irony in one sentence: these were "countries which the Israelites first conquered, and were the first they lost." Barnes reads the loss as the ruin of the whole trans-Jordanic territory; Ellicott stresses that the added "both Gilead and Bashan" exists to make clear that the whole eastern land, not Gilead narrowly, fell. ⚙ One resonance the English cannot show: Jehu's coup began at Ramoth-gilead (2 Kings 9:14). The ground on which he was anointed is the first ground he loses.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text. Read the unit as one sentence with a hinge, and the hinge is the noun lêbâb. In v. 30 God says what was "in my heart" was wholly done; in v. 31 the narrator says Jehu did not walk "with all his heart." Between those two clauses sits the whole problem of religion done well and meant badly. Scripture does not here resolve it in either direction available to us: it neither withdraws the commendation because the motive was impure, nor extends the commendation to the man because the deed was right. God pays the deed exactly what the deed is worth, four generations and a chair, and pays the heart exactly what the heart is worth, which is a border cut shorter every year. That is not cynicism about obedience; it is an argument that partial obedience is a real thing with a real, and strictly limited, wage.

The second thing the Hebrew presses is that Jehu's retained sin was not the gross one. He tore out the imported god and kept the domesticated one, and K&D's phrase for the calves, "the idolatrous worship of Jehovah," is the sharpest sentence in the brief. The temptation this text exposes is not apostasy but a manageable version of the true God, kept because the kingdom needs it. Benson and Henry both put the test where it belongs: the sins we abandon easily are the ones that cost us nothing, and the sins we defend are the ones that pay. ⚙ Where we must under-claim: the text never states that the loss of Gilead was punishment for the calves. Pulpit and K&D both concede this openly, and so do we. The juxtaposition is strong, the causal claim is inference, and it is offered as inference.

Not Scripture, a fallible reading offered for testing: God paid the deed its wage of four generations, and paid the heart its wage of a shrinking border.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The stakes of the grant, pulled up in order structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 33 does not list places at random. Aroer, the Arnon wadi, Gilead and Bashan are the survey markers of the trans-Jordan allotment under Moses, and the same proper nouns cluster in the allotment texts themselves. The Verifier finds Deuteronomy 3:12 sharing ʻĂrôwʻêr (H6177), ʼArnôwn (H769) and Rᵉʼûwbênîy (H7206) with our verse; Deuteronomy 2:36 shares Aroer, Arnon and Gilead; Joshua 12:2 shares Arnon, Aroer and gᵉbûwl (H1366), the border cord itself. K&D cites Deuteronomy 2:36 and 3:12 directly as the southern border of the Israelite land east of Jordan. Gill states the irony plainly, that these were "countries which the Israelites first conquered, and were the first they lost." ⚙ We tier this structural and not verbal on purpose: the shared lexemes are almost entirely proper nouns, which prove that the same territory is in view, not that one text quotes the other.

Deuteronomy 2:36 · Deuteronomy 3:12 · Joshua 12:2

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6177 ʻĂrôwʻêr (in 16 vv), H769 ʼArnôwn (in 23 vv), H7206 Rᵉʼûwbênîy (in 17 vv), plus H1568 Gilʻâd and H1366 gᵉbûwl at Joshua 12:2; all place and clan names, so the link is a shared survey of one territory, not a quotation

Qâtsâh: the verb used for scraping a leprous house verbal / quotation: confirmed

לְקַצּוֹת (qâtsâh, H7096) occurs in only five verses in the Hebrew Bible, and the company it keeps is worth seeing. At Leviticus 14:41 and 14:43 it is what the priest orders done to a house infected with leprous mould: the walls are scraped, the contaminated plaster cut away, and if the plague returns the house is pulled down. At Proverbs 26:6 it is cutting off one's own feet. Ellicott, without appealing to Leviticus, glosses the root from Proverbs as cutting off the extremities. ⚙ Put the three together and the picture is exact and terrible: God treats the land the way the Law treats an infected house, cutting away the affected portions, beginning with the outermost. Whether the writer of Kings intended the Levitical echo we cannot say, and we do not claim it; the lexical rarity is the evidence, and the rarity is real.

Leviticus 14:41 · Leviticus 14:43 · Proverbs 26:6

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H7096 qâtsâh, in only 5 verses in the whole Hebrew Bible (a genuinely rare verbal link, not a quotation); Ellicott independently cites Proverbs 26:6 for the sense

Hazael and Jehu: the two swords appointed at Horeb structural / thematic: confirmed

At Horeb Elijah was told to anoint Hazael king over Syria and Jehu king over Israel, and that "him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay" (1 Kings 19:17). Our unit is the moment that pairing turns on itself: Jehu, the second sword, is now cut by the first. The Verifier confirms the shared name Yêhûwʼ (H3058) with 1 Kings 19:17 and with 2 Kings 9:14, where the coup begins at Ramoth-gilead, and our v. 32 names Chăzâʼêl (H2371) as the one who strikes. Benson, Poole and Gill all read Hazael's blows here as the fulfilment of what Elisha foresaw and wept over at 2 Kings 8:12. ⚙ Structural, not verbal: the shared lexeme is a personal name occurring in 54 verses, which establishes a common cast, not a citation.

1 Kings 19:17 · 2 Kings 9:14 · 2 Kings 8:12

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H3058 Yêhûwʼ (in 54 vv) with 1 Kings 19:17 and 2 Kings 9:14; a common-name link inside a shared narrative pattern, no quotation claimed. 2 Kings 8:12 is added on the commentators' testimony (Benson, Poole, Gill), not on a computed lexeme

The blood of Jezreel, charged back to the house that shed it structural / thematic: confirmed

Our unit rewards Jehu for executing the house of Ahab "according to all that was in my heart." Hosea 1:4 turns the same act into an indictment: the LORD will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and end the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⚙ This is the hardest juxtaposition in the unit, and we will not dissolve it. Two readings stay open: that God commends the commissioned deed and condemns the murderous excess and motive with which it was done (which is Ellicott's and K&D's distinction between deed and motive, applied prophetically), or that Hosea announces the expiry of a reward that was always counted, four generations and no more, exactly as 2 Kings 15:12 records. Geneva already holds both ends: God "approves and rewards his zeal ... though his wickedness was later punished." We do not claim to know which reading Hosea intends.

Hosea 1:4 · 2 Kings 15:12

basis: Verifier pair check (2 Kings 10:29 with Hosea 1:4): shared Hebrew lexeme H3058 Yêhûwʼ (in 54 vv); a shared subject and a contested evaluation of the same act, not a quotation. 2 Kings 15:12 is added as the narrative's own record of the promise expiring, cited by Ellicott, Cambridge and K&D

With all his heart: the measure Jehu is weighed against structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 31's charge is not general failure, it is a specific shortfall against a specific standard: בְּכָל־לְבָבוֹ, "with all his heart," which is the wording of Deuteronomy 6:5. A Verifier pair check on 2 Kings 10:31 with Deuteronomy 6:5 returns the shared lexeme lêbâb (H3824), common (230 verses) rather than rare, so the link is structural. Jesus recites that same demand as the first and great commandment at Mark 12:30. ⚙ The cross-Testament half of this thread cannot be verbal in the Verifier's sense at all: Mark is Greek and cannot share a Hebrew Strong's number with Kings. What joins them is the standard itself, an undivided heart, which Kings applies as a measuring rule to a king and the Gospel applies as the summary of the whole law. Poole's three properties, "care or heedfulness, universality, and sincerity," are a good gloss on what the Hebrew phrase demands.

Deuteronomy 6:5 · Mark 12:30

basis: Verifier pair check (2 Kings 10:31 with Deuteronomy 6:5): shared Hebrew lexeme H3824 lêbâb (in 230 vv), a common lexeme, so structural and not verbal. Mark 12:30 is cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's is possible, and the basis is the shared demand of whole-hearted love, never a quotation claim

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Four generations, and the throne that is not counted ancient/widely-held

Cambridge sets the contrast without being asked to: when David "strives to do God's will perfectly with a true heart, the promise is that 'he shall not be without a lamp before God for ever'," whereas "the partial obedience of Jehu obtains the gift of a succession for four generations." The Hebrew of v. 30 counts: רְבִעִים, sons of a fourth generation, on a כִּסֵּא (H3678, a seat). 2 Kings 15:12 closes the account. Against that counted seat stands the promise of a throne established for ever (2 Samuel 7:16), which the angel applies to Jesus in Luke 1:32-33: "of his kingdom there shall be no end." ⚙ The logic is the book's own and is not ours to invent: Kings measures every northern dynasty and finds each one countable, and the line that is not countable is the Davidic line the Gospel claims is filled by Christ. This reading of the Davidic throne is ancient and widely held; what we add is only the sharpness of the arithmetic here, four against everlasting.

2 Samuel 7:16 · Luke 1:32-33 · 2 Kings 15:12

The whole heart Jehu withheld novel

The precise indictment of v. 31 is a missing quantity: not all of the heart. Every king in Kings is measured by that rule and every king comes up short in some degree, which is why the rule finally needs someone who satisfies it. Hebrews 10:7, taking up Psalm 40:8, puts into the mouth of the Son exactly what the Hebrew of our verse says Jehu lacked: to do God's will, with the law within the heart. John 4:34 says the same in the Son's own idiom, that his food is to do the will of him that sent him. ⚙ The identification of Psalm 40 with Christ's obedience is the letter to the Hebrews' own and is ancient; the juxtaposition with Jehu is ours, and we mark it novel. It is a contrast, not a type: Jehu is not a shadow of Christ here, he is the measured shortfall that makes the measure legible.

Hebrews 10:7 · John 4:34

Zeal without the knowledge of God's righteousness novel

Jehu's zeal is real, effective and, in the commentators' unanimous judgment, self-interested. JFB: he "had no intention of carrying his zeal for the Lord beyond a certain point." Poole: he "follows God as far as his interest would permit." Ellicott: policy rather than religious zeal. Paul names that species exactly at Romans 10:2-4, a zeal for God but not according to knowledge, going about to establish one's own righteousness, where the answer is that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. ⚙ We mark this novel as an application: Paul is writing about Israel's zeal for the law in his own day, not about Jehu, and we are extending his diagnosis backwards. The extension seems to us just, because the narrator of Kings has already made the same distinction between a deed that matches the law and a heart that does not.

Romans 10:2-4

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text and sources. The English base is the Berean Standard Bible (CC0); the Hebrew, transliteration, Strong's numbers and parsing come from the Berean interlinear as supplied in this unit's brief, and every commentary excerpt is a verbatim contiguous substring of a public-domain entry quoted under its author's tag. Where the interlinear's word order follows the English rather than the Hebrew (notably at v. 28 and v. 29), our literal line restores the Hebrew order; that reordering is ⚙ editorial and can be checked against the surfaces printed in the interlinear.

What is uncertain in this unit. First, the causal link between v. 31 and v. 32 is not stated by the text. Pulpit concedes it ("certainly not stated in direct terms") and K&D concedes it ("follows from the actual fact, though it is not distinctly mentioned in the text"); Henry states it flatly as though it were. Our reading follows Pulpit's caution, not Henry's confidence. Second, the prophet who delivers the oracle of v. 30 is unnamed: Barnes and Pulpit propose Elisha, Poole and Benson say only "some prophet," and Gill reports a Jewish tradition (Seder Olam Rabbah) naming Jonah son of Amittai. None of these is in the Hebrew. Third, the assessments of Jehu's motive offered by Ellicott, JFB, Poole, Benson and Barnes are inferences about an inner state the narrative does not report; Barnes's claim that abolishing the calf worship never occurred to Jehu is the most speculative and is marked as such at the verse. Fourth, the Pulpit note on the Black Obelisk belongs to the first generation of Assyriology and its regnal numbering has since been revised; the brief carries no independent confirmation, so it is reported as a nineteenth century statement. Fifth, the Leviticus 14 connection under the rare verb qâtsâh rests on lexical rarity alone (five verses in the Hebrew Bible); we claim the rarity, not authorial intent. Sixth, the Geneva entries for vv. 28, 29, 31, 32 and 33 in this brief carry only the verse text and a heading, so Geneva is quoted once, at v. 30, where a substantive marginal gloss exists.

Voices. Eleven commentators are present in the brief (Ellicott, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge, Pulpit, K&D, Benson) and all eleven are quoted somewhere in this unit. Several entries repeat across verses in the source (JFB's note on v. 29 is reprinted under vv. 30 to 33; Henry's paragraph note covers vv. 29 to 36); we have quoted each where its content actually belongs. The Pulpit excerpt at v. 31 is Pulpit quoting Dean Stanley, flagged in its editorial note.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)