What Does 2 Kings 10:5 Mean in the King James?
And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Their message transfers rule before Jehu issues a command: the leaders make themselves servants and place their judgment under his eyes.
THE MEANING
Authority becomes real when people place their work and judgment in someone else’s hands. Here, the leaders call themselves servants, refuse to appoint another king, and yield the choice to Jehu’s eyes. Jehu’s name (יֵהוּא, Yēhû, “YHWH is he”) carries a divine-name confession beside their pledge to do what is good in his eyes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that only a crowned ruler holds power: the people who can make a king exercise power by refusing to make one.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁלְחוּ
wayyishleḥu
GROWS FROM
שלח
The verb means to send forth, dispatch, or release.
“sent” in this verse is wayyishleḥu. The Hebrew names an act of sending forth, with a root that also names the dispatched messenger and, in shulchan, the surface extended to receive provision. Here, the leaders send their pledge to Jehu and release their claim to choose another king.
ALSO GROWS
shaliach: A representative who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
The officials send words that carry their allegiance to Jehu; the message acts as their dispatched representative.
Shiloach: A name associated with what is sent.
שִׁלֹחַ
It keeps the root’s sense of sending visible: what goes out carries the direction and purpose of the one who sends it.
shulchan: A table, an extended surface for provision.
שֻׁלְחָן
The extended surface echoes the root’s reaching outward; here, the leaders extend their pledge and place their choices before Jehu.
עֲבָדֶיךָ
avadekha
GROWS FROM
עבד
The root means to work or serve.
“servants” in this verse is avadekha. Their pledge names more than a respectful title: it places their work under another’s direction. They surrender the power to choose a king while committing their actions to Jehu’s command.
ALSO GROWS
eved: A person who serves or works under another’s authority.
עֶבֶד
This is the singular form behind their self-description, making service the stated shape of their allegiance.
avodah: Labor or service.
עֲבֹדָה
The same root connects their identity as servants to the actual work they promise to do.
THE PATTERN
Authority becomes visible when people place their service and choices under another’s direction.
And the king’s servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.Both passages use שָׁלַח (shalach, send forth): here the elders send a pledge to Jehu, while Isaiah offers himself to be sent. The shared root makes sending visible as a transfer of agency, though the direction differs: these leaders yield judgment to a ruler; Isaiah places himself at the disposal of the voice he hears.
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