2 Kings 10
1 And Ahab hath seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu writeth letters, and sendeth to Samaria, unto the heads of Jezreel, the elders, and unto the supporters of Ahab, saying,
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 'And now, at the coming in of this letter unto you, and with you [are] sons of your lord, and with you [are] the chariots and the horses, and a fenced city, and the armour,
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 and ye have seen the best and the uprightest of the sons of your lord, and have set [him] on the throne of his father, and fight ye for the house of your lord.'
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 And they fear very greatly, and say, 'Lo, the two kings have not stood before him, and how do we stand — we?'
But they were full of fear, and said, The two kings have gone down before him: how may we keep our place?
5 And he who [is] over the house, and he who [is] over the city, and the elders, and the supporters, send unto Jehu, saying, 'Thy servants we [are], and all that thou sayest unto us we do; we do not make any one king — that which [is] good in thine eyes do.'
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 And he writeth unto them a letter a second time, saying, 'If ye [are] for me, and to my voice are hearkening, take the heads of the men — the sons of your lord, and come unto me about this time to-morrow, to Jezreel;' and the sons of the king [are] seventy men, with the great ones of the city those bringing them up.
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 And it cometh to pass, at the coming in of the letter unto them, that they take the sons of the king, and slaughter seventy men, and put their heads in baskets, and send unto him to 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 and the messenger cometh in, and declareth to him, saying, 'They have brought in the heads of the sons of the king,' and he saith, 'Make them two heaps at the opening of the gate till the 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 And it cometh to pass in the morning, that he goeth out, and standeth, and saith unto all the people, 'Righteous are ye; lo, I have conspired against my lord, and slay him — and who smote all these?
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 Know ye now, that nothing doth fall of the word of Jehovah to the earth that Jehovah spake against the house of Ahab, and Jehovah hath done that which He spake by the hand of His servant Elijah.'
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 And Jehu smiteth all those left to the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his acquaintances, and his priests, till he hath not left to him a remnant.
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 And he riseth, and cometh in and goeth to Samaria; he [is] at the shepherds' shearing-house in the way,
Then he got up and came to Samaria. And he was at the meeting-place of the keepers of sheep, by the way,
13 and Jehu hath found the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and saith, 'Who [are] ye?' and they say, 'Brethren of Ahaziah we [are], and we go down to salute the sons of the king, and the sons of the mistress.'
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 And he saith, 'Catch them alive;' and they catch them alive, and slaughter them at the pit of the shearing-house, forty and two men, and he hath not left a man of them.
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 And he goeth thence, and findeth Jehonadab son of Rechab — to meet him, and blesseth him, and saith unto him, 'Is thy heart right, as my heart [is] with thy heart?' and Jehonadab saith, 'It is;' — 'Then it is; give thy hand;' and he giveth his hand, and he causeth him to come up into him into the 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 and saith, 'Come with me, and look on my zeal for Jehovah;' and they cause him to ride in his chariot.
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 And he cometh in to Samaria, and smiteth all those left to Ahab in Samaria, till his destroying him, according to the word of Jehovah that He spake unto Elisha.
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 And Jehu gathereth the whole of the people, and saith unto them, 'Ahab served Baal a little — Jehu doth serve him much:
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 and now, all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests, call ye unto me; let not a man be lacking, for a great sacrifice I have for Baal; every one who is lacking — he doth not live;' and Jehu hath done [it] in subtilty, in order to destroy the servants of 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 And Jehu saith, 'Sanctify a restraint for Baal;' and they proclaim [it].
And Jehu said, Let there be a special holy meeting for the worship of Baal. So a public statement was made.
21 And Jehu sendeth into all Israel, and all the servants of Baal come in, and there hath not been left a man who hath not come in; and they come in to the house of Baal, and the house of Baal is full — mouth to mouth.
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 And he saith to him who [is] over the wardrobe, 'Bring out clothing to all servants of Baal;' and he bringeth out to them the clothing.
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 And Jehu goeth in, and Jehonadab son of Rechab, to the house of Baal, and saith to the servants of Baal, 'Search and see, lest there be here with you of the servants of Jehovah — but, the servants of Baal by themselves.'
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 And they come in to make sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and Jehu hath set for himself in an out-place eighty men, and saith, 'The man who letteth escape [any] of the men whom I am bringing in unto your hand — his soul for his soul.'
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 And it cometh to pass at his finishing to make the burnt-offering, that Jehu saith to the runners, and to the captains, 'Go in, smite them, let none come out;' and they smite them by the mouth of the sword, and the runners and the captains cast [them] out; and they go unto the city, to the house of Baal,
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 bring out the standing-pillars of the house of Baal, and burn them,
And they took out the image of Asherah from the house of Baal, and had it burned.
27 and break down the standing-pillar of Baal, and break down the house of Baal, and appoint it for a draught-house unto this day.
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 And Jehu destroyeth Baal out of Israel,
So Jehu put an end to the worship of Baal in Israel.
29 only — the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, that he caused Israel to sin, Jehu hath not turned aside from after them — the calves of gold that [are] at Beth-El, and in Dan.
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 And Jehovah saith unto Jehu, 'Because that thou hast done well, to do that which [is] right in Mine eyes — according to all that [is] in My heart thou hast done to the house of Ahab — the sons of the fourth [generation] do sit for thee on the throne 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 And Jehu hath not taken heed to walk in the law of Jehovah, God of Israel, with all his heart, he hath not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam, that he caused Israel 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 In those days hath Jehovah begun to cut off [some] in Israel, and Hazael smiteth them in all the border of Israel,
In those days the Lord was angry first with Israel; and Hazael made attacks on all the land of Israel,
33 from the Jordan, at the sun-rising, the whole land of Gilead, of the Gadite, and the Reubenite, and the Manassahite (from Aroer, that [is] by the brook Arnon), even Gilead and Bashan.
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 And the rest of the matters of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles 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 And Jehu lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in Samaria, and reign doth Jehoahaz his son in his stead.
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 And the days that Jehu hath reigned over Israel [are] twenty and eight years, in Samaria.
And the time of Jehu's rule over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
