2 Kings 10

¹Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samarʹia. So Jehu wrote letters, and sent them to Samarʹia, to the rulers of the city, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying, ²“Now then, as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master’s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and weapons, ³select the best and fittest of your master’s sons and set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.” ⁴But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, “Behold, the two kings could not stand before him; how then can we stand?” ⁵So he who was over the palace, and he who was over the city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and we will do all that you bid us. We will not make any one king; do whatever is good in your eyes.” ⁶Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons, and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.” Now the king’s sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing them up. ⁷And when the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons, and slew them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel. ⁸When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons,” he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” ⁹Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood, and said to all the people, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master, and slew him; but who struck down all these? ¹⁰Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Eliʹjah.” ¹¹So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men, and his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

¹²Then he set out and went to Samarʹia. On the way, when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, ¹³Jehu met the kinsmen of Ahaziʹah king of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they answered, “We are the kinsmen of Ahaziʹah, and we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.” ¹⁴He said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons, and he spared none of them.

¹⁵And when he departed from there, he met Jehonʹadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him, and said to him, “Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?” And Jehonʹadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. ¹⁶And he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” So he had him ride in his chariot. ¹⁷And when he came to Samarʹia, he slew all that remained to Ahab in Samarʹia, till he had wiped them out, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Eliʹjah.

¹⁸Then Jehu assembled all the people, and said to them, “Ahab served Baʹal a little; but Jehu will serve him much. ¹⁹Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baʹal, all his worshipers and all his priests; let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baʹal; whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu did it with cunning in order to destroy the worshipers of Baʹal. ²⁰And Jehu ordered, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baʹal.” So they proclaimed it. ²¹And Jehu sent throughout all Israel; and all the worshipers of Baʹal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. And they entered the house of Baʹal, and the house of Baʹal was filled from one end to the other. ²²He said to him who was in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out the vestments for all the worshipers of Baʹal.” So he brought out the vestments for them. ²³Then Jehu went into the house of Baʹal with Jehonʹadab the son of Rechab; and he said to the worshipers of Baʹal, “Search, and see that there is no servant of the Lord here among you, but only the worshipers of Baʹal.” ²⁴Then he went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings.

Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside, and said, “The man who allows any of those whom I give into your hands to escape shall forfeit his life.” ²⁵So as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers, “Go in and slay them; let not a man escape.” So when they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers cast them out and went into the inner room of the house of Baʹal ²⁶and they brought out the pillar that was in the house of Baʹal, and burned it. ²⁷And they demolished the pillar of Baʹal, and demolished the house of Baʹal, and made it a latrine to this day.

²⁸Thus Jehu wiped out Baʹal from Israel. ²⁹But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboʹam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and in Dan. ³⁰And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” ³¹But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboʹam, which he made Israel to sin.

³²In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazʹael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel: ³³from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manasʹsites, from Aroʹer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, that is, Gilead and Bashan. ³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ³⁵So Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samarʹia. And Jehoʹahaz his son reigned in his stead. ³⁶The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samarʹia was twenty-eight years.