2 Kings 9:35

2Ki 9:35 And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of [her] hands.

Ver. 35. Than the skull, and the feet.] All her flesh was devoured by dogs. And the like befell those Donatists that cast the sacramental bread to dogs, as is before noted. Let all dogged persecutors look to it: Qualis vita, finis ita; those that fall foul upon the saints, shall come to an ill end, as were easy to exemplify.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

found no more of her than the skull, and the palms of her hands, &c.--The dog has a rooted aversion to prey on the human hands and feet.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 35. The skull - the feet, and the palms of her hands.] The dogs did not eat those parts, say Jarchi and Kimchi, because in her festal dances she danced like a dog, on her hands and feet, wantonly moving her head. What other meaning these rabbins had, I do not inquire. She was, no doubt, guilty of the foulest actions, and was almost too bad to be belied.

How literally was the prediction delivered in the preceding book, (1Kg 21:23, The dogs shall eat Jezebel, by the wall of Jezreel,) fulfilled! And how dearly did she and her husband Ahab pay for the murder of innocent Naboth!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(35) Her hands.—Heb., the hands.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35. they went to bury her] While Jehu was refreshing himself in the palace, the dogs gathered about the dead body of Jezebel and devoured it. So completely had the tide of popular favour turned towards Jehu, that there was not found one to protect the corpse of Jezebel.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hands. All the rest had been presently devoured, or carried off by dogs. (Haydock) --- Her precious jewels had been plundered by the soldiers. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

35. Skull… feet… hands — An eastern traveller, describing the remains of some human bodies that had been devoured by dogs, says: “The only portion of the several corpses I noticed that remained entire and untouched, were the bottoms of the feet, and the insides of the hands — a proof of the rooted antipathy the dog has to prey upon the human hands and feet.” Dr. Thomson supposes that the dogs under Jezebel’s palace “may have been taught to devour the wretched victims of her cruelty, in which case the retribution would be remarkably striking.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they went to bury her: hut they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. "The harder parts of the human frame" (Stanley); perhaps also the less palatable, since cannibals say that the palm of the human hand is excessively bitter. Dogs in Oriental countries are ever prowling about, especially in the vicinity of towns, on the lookout for food, and will eat flesh or offal of any kind. They have been called "the scavengers of the East," and the phrase well describes them. Dean Stanley saw "the wild dogs of Jezreel prowling about the mounds where the offal is cast outside the gates of the town by the inhabitants."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But when they went to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, the two feet, and the two hollow hands. The rest had been eaten by the dogs and dragged away. When this was reported to Jehu, he said: "This is the word of the Lord, which He spake by His servant Elijah," etc. (Kg1 21:23), i.e., this has been done in fulfilment of the word of the Lord. Kg2 9:37 is also to be regarded as a continuation of the prophecy of Elijah quoted by Jehu (and not as a closing remark of the historian, as Luther supposes), although what Jehu says here does not occur verbatim in Kg1 21:23, but Jehu has simply expanded rather freely the meaning of that prophecy. והית (Chethb) is the older form of the 3rd pers. fem. Kal, which is only retained here and there (vid., Ewald, 194, a.). אשׁר is a conjunction (see Ewald, 337, a.): "that men may not be able to say, This is Jezebel," i.e., that they may no more be able to recognise Jezebel.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

they found no more of her than

"they found no more of her body than" This can be stated in positive form. AT: "all they found that was left of her body were"

the palms of her hands

The palm is the inner part of the hand.

the Tishbite

This refers to someone from the city of Tishbe. See how you translated this in 2 Kings 1:3. (See: How to Translate Names)

the body of Jezebel will be like dung on the surface of the fields ... so that no one will be able to say

This speaks of the pieces of Jezebel's body being scattered in the field as if they were dung spread in the field. Since the pieces of her body were so small and spread out there was nothing that could be collected and buried. AT: "the pieces of Jezebel's body will be scattered like dung in the fields ... so that no one will be able to recognize them and say" (See: Simile)

dung

manure, specifically dung used as a fertilizer

so that no one will be able to say, "This is Jezebel."

"so that no one will be able to recognize her body." or "so no one will be able to tell this was Jezebel."

translationWords

skull

Elijah

flesh

dung

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

The skull [and] the feet. Our Rabbis said, that she would dance before bridegrooms with her hands and feet, and shake her head.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.