What Does 2 Kings 10:11 Mean?
So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his acquaintances, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.THE KEY
The Hebrew root for “remain” frames Jehu’s slaughter, making the erasure of everyone left in Ahab’s circle, not one death, the measure of the verse.
THE MEANING
This verse shows the full sweep of Jehu’s violence: he kills the survivors of Ahab’s house in Jezreel, then names its great men, known ones, and priests among those killed. The language moves from those who remain to leaving no survivor, making completeness the measure of the scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that removing a ruler ends the violence is undone here: the sweep reaches the household’s officials, known ones, and priests.
THE ROOT
הַנִּשְׁאָרִים
hannish'arim
GROWS FROM
שאר
Remain, be left, survive.
The opening word “remained” and the closing “left” both grow from שאר (sha’ar), framing the slaughter with the same root. The endpoint is no survivor, so completeness is built into the verse’s wording.
ALSO GROWS
sha'ar: Remain, be left.
שָׁאַר
This is the verb behind both “remained” and “left,” repeating one root at the opening and endpoint.
nish'ar: One left; one who remains.
נִשְׁאָר
The plural form names the survivors at the start, the very group the verse says is erased.
she'erit: Remnant, remainder.
שְׁאֵרִית
This word names what survives after destruction, sharpening the force of the verse’s endpoint: no remnant is left.
מְיֻדָּעָיו
meyudda'av
GROWS FROM
ידע
Know, perceive through encounter.
The Hebrew calls these people those known to him, from ידע (yadaʿ), “to know.” “Kinsfolks” can sound exclusively like blood relatives, while the Hebrew also reaches into Jehu’s circle of acquaintances and personal ties.
ALSO GROWS
yadaʿ: Know, perceive.
יָדַע
The verb’s sense of knowing by encounter lies inside the word for those known to Ahab.
môdaʿ: Acquaintance, kinsman.
מוֹדָע
This related word can name someone known or related, showing how familiarity and kinship meet in the verse’s circle of victims.
yediʿah: Knowledge, knowing.
יְדִיעָה
Its shared root keeps the emphasis on a personal bond of knowing, not just a position in Ahab’s household.
יִזְרְעֶאל
Yizre'el
GROWS FROM
זרע
Sow, scatter seed; the name Yizre’el carries the sense “God sows.”
The name Jezreel carries the sense “God sows,” while זֶרַע (zeraʿ) can mean seed or offspring. The name’s sowing sense resonates with Ahab’s line being erased there, placing seed-language within a scene of dynastic killing.
ALSO GROWS
zaraʿ: Sow, scatter seed.
זָרַע
This verb supplies the sowing sense within the place-name.
zeraʿ: Seed, offspring, lineage.
זֶרַע
This branch brings seed and family line into view beside the destruction of Ahab’s surviving house.
THE PATTERN
A purge shows its reach by extending violence from a named target to everyone within its boundary.
And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he struck all the house of Jeroboam; he left to Jeroboam not one breath, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and made all the royal seed perish.Then Herod, when he perceived that he had been mocked by the wise men, burned with rage, and sent forth and killed all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the time he had carefully learned from the wise men.THE THREAD
And when he came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke to Elijah.This verse repeats the root שאר in “all that remained” while carrying the slaughter from Jezreel to Samaria. The repeated language shows the sweep extending across places until Ahab’s house has no surviving remnant.
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