2 Kings 10

¹Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the officers of Jezreel, the elders, and to the guardians of Ahab, saying,

²Now when this letter comes to you -- since the sons of your master are with you, and with you are chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons --

³Then choose the best and most capable of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's house."

⁴And they were very, very afraid and said, Look, two kings did not stand before him; how then can we stand?

⁵And the one who was over the palace, and the one who was over the city, the elders, and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, 'We are your servants, and all that you say to us we will do. We will not make anyone king. Do what is good in your eyes.'

⁶Then he wrote them a second letter, saying, "If you are with me and are listening to my voice, take the heads of the men, the sons of your master, and come to me at this time tomorrow at Jezreel." Now the king's sons, seventy men, were with the prominent men of the city, who were rearing them.

⁷When the letter reached them, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered the seventy men. Then they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

⁸When the messenger came and told him, saying, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons," he said, "Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning."

⁹And when morning came, he went out and stood and said to all the people, "You are righteous. Look, I conspired against my master and killed him; but who struck down all these?"

¹⁰Know then that not one word of the LORD will fall to the ground, which the LORD spoke against the house of Ahab; for the LORD has done what he spoke through the hand of his servant Elijah.

¹¹So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his intimate friends and his priests, until he left no survivor.

¹²Then he arose and came, and went toward Samaria. He was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, on the road.

¹³Jehu met the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah and said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and we came down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother.

¹⁴And he said, "Take them alive!" And they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two men, and he did not leave a man of them.

¹⁵And he went from there and found Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to him, 'Is your heart right with me as my heart is with yours?' And Jehonadab said, 'It is.' Jehu said, 'If it is, give me your hand.' And he gave his hand, and Jehu brought him up to him into the chariot.

¹⁶And he said, Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD. And he had him ride in his chariot.

¹⁷And when he came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained of Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD which he spoke to Elijah.

¹⁸And Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, 'Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him greatly.'

¹⁹And now, all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests summon to me; let not a man be absent, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is absent shall not live. But Jehu acted with deception in order to destroy the worshippers of Baal.

²⁰And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it.

²¹And Jehu sent throughout all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came, and not a man was left who did not come. And they came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from end to end.

²²And he said to the one in charge of the wardrobe, Bring out garments for all the servants of Baal. And he brought garments out for them.

²³And Jehu and Jonadab son of Rechab went into the house of Baal, and he said to the worshippers of Baal, "Search and look, lest there be here with you any servant of the LORD, but only worshippers of Baal."

²⁴And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. But Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and said, 'If any of the men whom I am bringing into your hands escapes, it will be your life in place of his life.'

²⁵And when he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the runners and to the officers, "Go in and strike them down; let no one come out." And they struck them down with the edge of the sword, and the runners and the officers cast them out and went as far as the city of the house of Baal.

²⁶They brought out the pillars of the house of Baal and burned them.

²⁷They pulled down the pillar of Baal, and pulled down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day.

²⁸Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel.

²⁹Yet Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin — the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were 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 Jeroboam which he caused Israel to commit.

³²In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel, and Hazael struck them throughout all the territory of Israel.

³³From the Jordan, toward the east, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is on the bank of the Wadi Arnon, and 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?

³⁵And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place.

³⁶And the days that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria were twenty-eight years.