What Does 2 Kings 9:26 Mean in the King James?
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 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
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.
“requite” 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.
Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.THE THREAD
To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.“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.
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