2 Kings 10

1 And Achab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, unto the rulers of Yizre'el, the elders, and to those that brought up Achab's children, saying,

2 And now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing that there are with you your master's sons, and there are with you the chariots and the horses, and the fortified city, and the armor:

3 Select then the best and the most fitting of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house.

4 But they were exceedingly much afraid, and said, Behold, the two kings could not stand before him: how then shall we be able to stand?

5 And the superintendent over the house, and the commander over the city, and the elders, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and all that thou mayest say unto us will we do; we will not set up any one as king: do what is good in thy eyes.

6 Then wrote he to them a letter the second time, saying, If ye be for me, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, then take the heads of the men, your master's sons, and come to me to Yizre'el by this time tomorrow. Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.

7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Yizre'el.

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

9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye are righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him; but who hath killed all these?

10 Know now that there shall not fall of the word of the Lord unto the earth, the least that the Lord hath spoken concerning the house of Achab; and the Lord hath done that which he spoke by means of his servant Elijah.

11 And Jehu smote all that yet remained of the house of Achab in Yizre'el, and all his great men, and his acquaintance, and his priests, until he had left him none that escaped.

12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria; he was just at the binding-house of the shepherds, on the way:

13 When Jehu met with the brothers of Achazyahu the king of Judah, and he said, Who are ye? And they said, The brothers of Achazyahu are we; and we are come down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen.

14 And he said, Seize them alive. And they seized them alive, and slaughtered them at the pit of the binding-house, two and forty men; and he left not one of them remaining.

15 And he went away thence, and met Yehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is all right in thy heart, as my heart is with thy heart? And Yehonadab answered, It is; it is: give me thy hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.

16 And he said, Come with me, and behold my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot.

17 And when he came to Samaria, he smote all that yet remained unto Achab in Samaria, till he had exterminated him, according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken to Elijah.

18 And Jehu assembled all the people, and said unto them, Achab hath served Ba'al a little: Jehu will serve him much.

19 And now call unto me all the prophets of Ba'al, all his worshippers, and all his priests: let no one be missing; for I have a great sacrifice to make for Ba'al; whosoever will be missing, shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, in order to destroy the worshippers of Ba'al.

20 And Jehu said, Sanctify a solemn assembly for Ba'al. And they proclaimed it.

21 And Jehu sent throughout all Israel: and there came all the worshippers of Ba'al, so that there was not a man remaining that came not; and they came into the house of Ba'al; and the house of Ba'al was full from one end to another.

22 And he said unto him that was over the wardrobe, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Ba'al. And he brought forth for them the vestments.

23 And Jehu went, with Yehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Ba'al, and he said unto the worshippers of Ba'al, Search, and look that there be not here with you any of the servants of the Lord, but the worshippers of Ba'al entirely alone.

24 And they went in to prepare sacrifices and burnt-offerings; but Jehu had set for himself without eighty men, and said, [If there be] a man that escapeth from the men whom I deliver into your hands, [there shall be given] life for his life.

25 And it came to pass, as soon as they had made an end of preparing the burnt-offering, that Jehu said to the runners and to the officers, Go in, smite them: let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the runners and the captains cast them out, and went as far as the city of the house of Ba'al.

26 And they brought forth the statues out of the house of Ba'al, and burnt every one of them.

27 And they broke down the statue of Ba'al, and broke down the house of Ba'al, and made it a common sewer unto this day.

28 Thus Jehu exterminated Ba'al out of Israel.

29 Nevertheless the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, who induced Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from in following them, [namely, ] the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan.

30 And the Lord said unto Jehu, Forasmuch as thou hast acted well in doing what is right in my eyes, and hast done in accordance with all that was in my heart unto the house of Achab: children of the fourth generation after thee shall sit upon the throne of Israel.

31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart: he departed not from the sins of Jerobo'am, who induced Israel to sin.

32 In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short; and Chazael smote them in all the boundary of Israel;

33 From the Jordan to the rising of the sun, all the land of Gil'ad, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Menassites, from 'Aro'er which is by the river Arnon, both Gil'ad and Bashan.

34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his mighty deeds, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

35 And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoachaz his son became king in his stead.

36 And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.