CHAPTER 10

¹And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent them to the rulers of Samaria, to the elders of the town and to Ahab’s tutors, saying, ²“And now, when this letter comes to you, and the sons of your master are with you, and the chariots and the horses are with you, and the fortified towns and the weapons, ³you shall see to the best and the most fitting of your master’s sons and put him on his father’s throne, and battle for your master’s house.” ⁴And they were very, very afraid, and they thought, “Look, two kings could not stand up against him, and how can we stand?” ⁵And he who was appointed over the palace and he who was appointed over the town and the elders and the tutors sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and all that you say to us we shall do. We shall make no one king. Do what is good in your eyes.” ⁶And he wrote them a letter again, saying, “If you are mine and heed my voice, take off the heads of the men who are your master’s sons and bring them to me at this time tomorrow in Jezreel.” And the king’s sons, seventy men, were with the town’s notables who had reared them. ⁷And it happened, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons and slaughtered the seventy men and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel. ⁸And the messenger came and told him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” And he said, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the gate until morning.” ⁹And it happened in the morning that he came out and stood and said to all the people, “Well, you are innocent! Look, I plotted against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these? ¹⁰Know, then, that nothing will fail of the word of the LORD that He spoke against the house of Ahab, but the LORD has done what He spoke through his servant Elijah.” ¹¹And Jehu struck down all who were left of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his notables and his intimates and his priests, till he left him no remnant. ¹²And he rose and went and came to Samaria. When he was at Beth-Eked-ha-Roim on the way, ¹³Jehu encountered the kinsmen of Ahaziah king of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they said, “We are the kinsmen of Ahaziah, and we are going down to see if all is well with the king’s sons and the sons of the queen mother.” ¹⁴And he said, “Seize them alive,” and they seized them alive, and they slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-Eked, forty-two men, he did not leave a man of them. ¹⁵And he went from there and encountered Jehonadab son of Rechab coming toward him, and he greeted him and he said to him, “Is your heart steadfast with me as my heart is with yours?” And he said to him, “It certainly is.” “Give me your hand.” And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him in the chariot. ¹⁶And he said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD.” And he drove him in his chariot. ¹⁷And he came to Samaria and struck down all who were left of Ahab in Samaria till he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD that He spoke to Elijah. ¹⁸And Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little. Jehu will serve him abundantly. ¹⁹And now, call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests, let no one be missing, for I am about to have a great sacrifice to Baal—whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu dealt deviously in order to destroy the servants of Baal. ²⁰And Jehu said, “Call a solemn assembly to Baal,” and they called. ²¹And Jehu sent out through all Israel, and all the servants of Baal came, and not a man remained who did not come. And they came to the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from corner to corner. ²²And he said to the one appointed over the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the servants of Baal,” and he brought out garments for them. ²³And he came into the house of Baal, and Jehonadab son of Rechab with him, and he said to the worshippers of Baal, “Search and see if there are here with you any servants of the LORD besides the servants of Baal alone.” ²⁴And they came to perform sacrifices and burnt offerings, and Jehu had set for himself eighty men outside. And he said, “Any man who escapes of the men whom I have brought into your hands—his life for that man’s life!” ²⁵And it happened when he finished performing the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the sentries and to the captains, “Come, strike them down. Let no man get away.” And they struck them down by the sword, and the sentries and the captains flung them out, and they went to the town of the house of Baal. ²⁶And they brought out the sacred pillars of the house of Baal and burned them. ²⁷And they smashed the sacred pillar of Baal, and they smashed the house of Baal and turned it into latrines, to this very day. ²⁸And Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel. ²⁹But Jehu did not swerve from the offenses of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had led Israel to offend—the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. ³⁰And the LORD said to Jehu, “Inasmuch as you have done well what is right in My eyes, according to all that was in My heart you have done to the house of Ahab, four generations of your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel.” ³¹But Jehu did not watch out to go by the teaching of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart. He did not swerve from the offenses of Jeroboam, who had led Israel to offend. ³²In those days the LORD began to trim away Israel, and Hazael struck them down through all the borderland of Israel, ³³from the Jordan, where the sun rises, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the Wadi of Arnon, and Gilead and Bashan. ³⁴And the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his valor, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of the Kings of Israel? ³⁵And Jehu lay with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son became king in his stead. ³⁶And the time Jehu had been king over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.