2 Kings 10

1 There were seventy descendants of King Ahab who were living there in Samaria. Jehu wrote a letter [and made copies of it] and sent them to the rulers of the city, to the elders, and to those who raised and tutored Ahab’s children.

Now there were in Samaria seventy of Ahab's sons. And Jehu sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of the town, and to the responsible men, and to those who had the care of the sons of Ahab, saying,

2 [This is what he wrote]: “You are the ones who are [taking care of] the king’s descendants. You have chariots and horses and weapons, and you live in cities that have walls around them. So as soon as you receive this letter,

Straight away, when you get this letter, seeing that your master's sons are with you, and that you have carriages and horses and a walled town and arms;

3 choose one of the king’s sons, the one who is the best qualified, and appoint him to be your king. Then [prepare to] fight to defend him.”

Take the best and most upright of your master's sons, and make him king in his father's place, and put up a fight for your master's family.

4 But [when they got those letters from Jehu and read them], they became very afraid. They said, “King Joram and King Ahaziah could not resist him; (how can we resist him?/we cannot possibly resist him!)” [RHQ]

But they were full of fear, and said, The two kings have gone down before him: how may we keep our place?

5 So the officer who was in charge of the palace and the mayor of the city sent a message to Jehu saying, “We want to serve you, and we are ready to do whatever you tell us to do. We will not appoint anyone to become our king. You do whatever you think is best.”

So the controller of the king's house, with the ruler of the town, and the responsible men, and those who had the care of Ahab's sons, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants and will do all your orders; we will not make any man king; do whatever seems best to you.

6 So Jehu sent a second letter to them, writing this: “If you (are on my side/want to help me), and if you are ready to obey me, [kill] King Ahab’s descendants [and cut off their heads and] bring their heads to me here in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” The seventy descendants of King Ahab were being brought up and supervised by the leaders of [Samaria] city.

Then he sent them a second letter, saying, If you are on my side, and if you will do my orders, come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow, with the heads of your master's sons. Now the king's seventy sons were with the great men of the town, who had the care of them.

7 When they received the letter from Jehu, they killed all seventy of Ahab’s descendants and [cut off their heads]. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

And when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and put them to death, all the seventy, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

8 A messenger came to Jehu and told him, “They have brought the heads of Ahab’s descendants.” So Jehu commanded that the heads should be put in two piles at the city gate and that the heads should stay there until the next morning.

And a man came and said to him, They have come with the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Put them down in two masses at the doorway of the town till the morning.

9 The next morning he went out [to the city gate] and said to all the people, “I am the one who plotted against King Joram and killed him. You are not guilty of doing that. But [it was Yahweh, not I] [RHQ] who [commanded that] all these [descendants of Ahab should be] killed.

And in the morning he went out and, stopping, said to all the people there, You are upright men: it is true that I made designs against my master, and put him to death; but who is responsible for the death of all these?

10 So you need to know that everything that Yahweh said would happen has happened. He has caused to happen what he told the prophet Elijah would happen.”

You may be certain that nothing which the Lord has said about the family of Ahab will be without effect; for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.

11 Then Jehu executed all the other relatives of Ahab in Jezreel, and all Ahab’s officers, and close friends, and his priests. He did not allow any of them to remain alive.

So Jehu put to death all the rest of the seed of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his relations and his near friends and his priests, till there were no more of them.

12 Then Jehu left [Jezreel] and went toward Samaria. While he was going there, at a place called ‘Shepherds’ Camp’,

Then he got up and came to Samaria. And he was at the meeting-place of the keepers of sheep, by the way,

13 he met some relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah. He asked them, “Who are you?” They replied, “We are relatives of King Ahaziah. We are going to Jezreel to visit the children of Queen Jezebel and the other members of King [Joram’s] family.”

When he came across the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah; we are going down to see the children of the king and of the queen.

14 Jehu said to his men, “Seize them!” So they seized them and killed all of them at the pit named Beth-Eked. There were 42 people whom they killed; they did not allow any of them to remain alive.

And he said, Take them living. So they took them living, and put them to death in the water-hole of Beth-eked; of the forty-two men he put every one to death;

15 Then Jehu [continued to travel toward Samaria]. Along the road, he was met by Jonadab, a leader of the Rechab clan. Jehu greeted him and said to him, “Are you as devoted to me [IDM] as I am devoted to you?” Jonadab replied, “Yes, I am.” Jehu said, “If you are, shake hands with me.” So Jonadab shook hands with him, and Jehu helped him to get into his chariot.

And when he had gone away from there, he came across Jehonadab, the son of Rechab: and he said good-day to him, and said to him, Is your heart true to mine, as mine is to yours? And Jehonadab in answer said, It is; and Jehu said, If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand, and he made him come up into his carriage.

16 Jehu said to him, “Come with me, and you will see that I am very devoted to Yahweh.” So they rode together to Samaria.

And he said, Come with me and see how I am on fire for the Lord's cause. So he made him go with him in his carriage.

17 When they arrived in Samaria, Jehu killed all of Ahab’s relatives who were still alive. He did not (spare any of them/allow any of them to remain alive). That was what Yahweh told Elijah would happen.

And when he came to Samaria, he put to death all those of Ahab's family who were still in Samaria, till there were no more of them, as the Lord had said to Elijah.

18 Then Jehu summoned all the people [of Samaria], and said to them, “King Ahab was devoted to [your god] Baal a little bit, but I will serve him much more.

Then Jehu got all the people together and said to them, Ahab was Baal's servant in a small way, but Jehu will be his servant on a great scale.

19 So now summon all the prophets of Baal, all of Baal’s priests, and all the others who worship Baal. I am going to make a great sacrifice to Baal. I want all of them to be there. Any of them who is not there will be executed.” But Jehu was planning to trick them; he was planning to kill all those who worshiped Baal.

Now send for all the prophets of Baal and all his servants and all his priests, to come to me; let no one keep away: for I have a great offering to make to Baal; anyone who is not present, will be put to death. This Jehu did with deceit, his purpose being the destruction of the servants of Baal.

20 Then Jehu commanded, “Announce that we are going to set aside a day to honor Baal.” So they did that.

And Jehu said, Let there be a special holy meeting for the worship of Baal. So a public statement was made.

21 Jehu [decided what day they would gather and] sent messages throughout Israel [telling everyone what day to gather on], and on that day, everyone who worshiped Baal came. No one stayed at home. They all went into the huge temple of Baal and filled it from one end to the other.

And Jehu sent out through all Israel; and all the servants of Baal came, not one kept away. And they came into the house of Baal, so that it was full from end to end.

22 Jehu told the priest who took care of the sacred robes to bring them out and give them to the people who worshiped Baal. So the priest did that.

And Jehu said to him who kept the robes, Get out robes for all the servants of Baal. So he got out robes for them.

23 Then Jehu went into the temple of Baal with Jonadab, and he said to the people who were there to worship Baal, “Be sure that only those who worship Baal are here. Be sure that no one who worships Yahweh has come in.”

And Jehu, with Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, went into the house of Baal; and he said to the servants of Baal, Make a search with care, to see that no servant of the Lord is with you, but only servants of Baal.

24 Then he and Jonadab prepared to offer sacrifices and other offerings to Baal that would be completely burned [on the altar that was there in Samaria]. But Jehu had stationed eighty of his men outside the temple, and had said to them, “I want you to kill all the people [who are in the temple]. Anyone who allows one of them to escape will be executed!”

Then they went in to make offerings and burned offerings. Now Jehu had put eighty men outside, and said to them, If any man whom I give into your hands gets away, the life of him who lets him go will be the price of his life.

25 As soon as Jehu [and Jonadab] had finished killing the animals that would be completely burned to be an offering to Baal, they [went outside and] said to the guards and officers, “Go in and kill all of them! Do not allow any of them to escape!” So the guards and officers went in and killed them all with their swords. Then they dragged their corpses outside the temple. Then they went into the inner room of the temple,

Then when the burned offering was ended, straight away Jehu said to the armed men and the captains, Go in and put them to death; let not one come out. So they put them to the sword; and, pulling the images to the earth, they went into the holy place of the house of Baal.

26 and they carried out the sacred pillar of Baal that was there, and they burned it.

And they took out the image of Asherah from the house of Baal, and had it burned.

27 So they destroyed that pillar that honored Baal, and then they burned down the temple, and made it a public toilet. And it is still a toilet!

The altar of Baal was pulled down and the house of Baal was broken up and made an unclean place, as it is to this day.

28 That is how Jehu got rid of the worship of Baal in Israel.

So Jehu put an end to the worship of Baal in Israel.

29 But Jehu did not quit committing the kinds of sins that Jeroboam had committed, sins that led the people of Israel to sin by worshiping the gold [statues of] calves in Bethel and Dan [cities].

But Jehu did not keep himself from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the evil he made Israel do; the gold oxen were still in Beth-el and in Dan.

30 Then Yahweh said to Jehu, “You have done what pleased me by getting rid of all of Ahab’s descendants. So I promise you that your son and grandson and great-grandson and great-great-grandson will all be kings of Israel.”

And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes and effecting all my purpose for the family of Ahab, your sons will be kings of Israel to the fourth generation.

31 But Jehu did not obey all the laws of Yahweh, the God of the Israeli people. He did not stop committing the sins that Jeroboam had committed, sins that led the Israeli people to sin.

But Jehu did not take care to keep the law of the Lord with all his heart: he did not keep himself from the sin which Jeroboam did and made Israel do.

32 At that time, Yahweh began to cause the territory controlled by Israel to become smaller. [The army of] King Hazael [of Syria] conquered much of the Israeli territory.

In those days the Lord was angry first with Israel; and Hazael made attacks on all the land of Israel,

33 He conquered the parts east of the Jordan [River], as far south as Aroer [town] on the Arnon [River]. That included [the] Gilead and Bashan [regions], where the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of the tribe of Manasseh lived.

East of Jordan, in all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, all Gilead and Bashan.

34 [If you want to read more] about all the other things that Jehu did [RHQ], they are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

35 Jehu died [EUP], and was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz became the king in place of his father.

And Jehu went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.

36 Jehu had ruled in Samaria as the king of Israel for twenty-eight years.

And the time of Jehu's rule over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.