What Does 2 Kings 9:26 Mean?
Surely I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, declares the LORD. And I will repay you in this portion, declares the LORD. Now therefore lift him, and throw him in the portion of ground, according to the word of the LORD.
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
Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.THE KEY
In Hebrew, “requite” shares its root with “wholeness,” and the verse places that repayment on the very plot named in the charge.
THE MEANING
This verse holds a hard claim before the reader now: bloodshed is seen and named, not absorbed into silence. Repayment is declared on the same plot, and the sentence ends in a violent act: the man is cast there. The text holds remembrance and judgment together without softening either.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that bloodshed disappears once those with power cover it over.
THE ROOT
וְשִׁלַּמְתִּי
ve-shillamti
GROWS FROM
שלם
To be whole or complete; in this verb form, to repay or settle what is due.
“repay you” in this verse is ve-shillamti. The verb ve-shillamti shares the root שלם with shalom, “wholeness,” and shillem, “repay.” The root lets repayment and completeness sit in one word-family; here, that settling is made concrete and brutal as judgment is placed on the named plot.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
It shares the root’s sense of completeness with the act of repayment named in the verse.
shillem: Repay, recompense.
שִׁלֵּם
This verb from the same root makes “requite” more than an abstract penalty: it carries the sense of settling what is due.
THE PATTERN
When bloodshed is seen, the text presents recompense as an account that cannot be left unfinished.
And yours, O Lord, is faithful love, for you repay each man according to his deed.According to their deeds, so he will repay; heat to those who press him, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will make recompense whole.For we know the one who said, Mine is the vengeance; I will give back, says the LORD. And again, the LORD shall judge his people.THE THREAD
To me belongs vengeance, and repayment. At its appointed time their foot slips, for the day of their falling is near, and what is readied comes hurrying upon them.“Recompence” comes from the same Hebrew root שלם as “requite” here, framing judgment as repayment that comes due. This verse makes the root starkly physical: repayment is located on the named plot, and a body is cast there.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us