2 Kings 9:18

18 So the rider of the horse went out to meet him, and he said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." Then the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger went up to them, but he did not return."

2 Kings 9:18 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 9:18

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, thus
saith the king, is it peace?
&c.] Are things well in the army, or any disturbance in the kingdom? are you come as friends or enemies? and Jehu said, what hast thou to do with peace?
or to ask such a question: turn thee behind me;
which he was obliged to do, Jehu having such a company of soldiers with him; and this he did, that he might carry no tidings to Joram, that he might not know as yet who he and his company were: and the watchman told, saying, the messenger came to them, but he
cometh not again;
of this he sent word to the king what he had observed.

2 Kings 9:18 In-Context

16 Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram [was] lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to visit Joram.

17 Now the watchman [was] standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu when he came, and he said, "I see a company." Joram said, "Take a horseman and send [him] to meet them." And he said, "Is it peace?"

18 So the rider of the horse went out to meet him, and he said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." Then the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger went up to them, but he did not return."

19 Then he sent out a second horseman, and he came to them and said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me."

20 So the sentinel reported, saying, "He went up to them, but he did not return, and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "What is for you and for peace"