II Kings Chapter 10

II Kings Chapter 10
1 Ahab had now seventy sons in
Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and
sent to Samaria unto the rulers of
Jezreel, and to the elders, and to the
bringers up of Ahab’s children, to this
effect,
2 Now when this letter cometh to you,
(for ye have with you your master’s
sons, ye have with you both chariots and
horses, and a defensed city, and armor)
3 Consider therefore which of your
master’s sons is best and most meet, and
set him on his father’s throne, and fight
for your master’s house. 4 But they were
exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold
two kings could not stand before him,
how shall we then stand?
5 And he that was governor of Ahab’s
house, and he that ruled the city, and the
elders, and the bringers up of the
children sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy
servants, and will do all that thou shalt
bid us: we will make no king: do what
seemeth good to thee.
6 Then he wrote another letter to them,
saying, If ye be mine, and will obey my
voice, take the heads of the men that are
your master’s sons, and come to me to
Jezreel by tomorrow this time. (Now the
king’s sons, even seventy persons were
with the great men of the city, which
brought them up) 7 And when the letter
came to them, they took the king’s sons,
and slew the seventy persons, and laid
their heads in baskets, and sent them unto
him to Jezreel.
8 Then there came a messenger and told
him, saying, They have brought the heads
of the king’s sons. And he said, Let them
lay them on two heaps at the entering in
of the gate until the morning.
9 And when it was day, he went out, and
stood and said to all the people, Ye be
righteous: behold, I conspired against
my master, and slew him: but who slew
all these?
10 Know now that there shall fall unto
the earth nothing of the word of the Lord,
which the Lord spake concerning the
house of Ahab: for the Lord hath brought
to pass the things that he spake by his
servant Elijah. 11 So Jehu slew all that
remained of the house of Ahab in
Jezreel, and all that were great with him,
and his familiars and his priests, so that
he let none of his remain.
12 And he arose, and departed and came
to Samaria . And as Jehu was in the way
by an house where the shepherds did
shear,
13 He met with the brethren of Ahaziah
king of Judah, and said, Who are ye?
And they answered; We are the brethren
of Ahaziah, and go down to salute the
children of the king and the children of
the Queen.
14 And he said, Take them alive. And
they took them alive, and slew them at
the well beside the house where the
sheep are shorn, even two and forty men,
and he left not one of them.
15 And when he was departed thence, he
met with Jehonadab the son of Rechab
coming to meet him, and he blessed him,
and said to him, Is thine heart upright, as
mine heart is toward thine? And
Jehonadab answered, Yea, doubtless.
Then give me thine hand. And when he
had given him his hand, he took him up
to him into the chariot.
16 And he said, Come with me, and see
the zeal that I have for the Lord: so they
made him ride in his chariot.
17 And when he came to Samaria, he
slew all that remained unto Ahab in
Samaria, till he had destroyed him,
according to the word of the Lord, which
he spake to Elijah.
18 Then Jehu assembled all the people,
and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a
little, but Jehu shall serve him much
more.
19 Now therefore call unto me all the
prophets of Baal, all his servants, and
all his priests, and let not a man be
lacking: for I have a great sacrifice for
Baal: whosoever is lacking, he shall not
live. But Jehu did it by a subtlety to
destroy the servants of Baal.
20 And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn
assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed
it.
21 So Jehu sent unto all Israel, and all
the servants of Baal came, and there was
not a man left that came not. And they
came into the house of Baal, and the
house of Baal was full from end to end.
22 Then he said unto him that had the
charge of the vestry, Bring forth
vestments for all the servants of Baal.
And he brought the out vestments. 23
And when Jehu went, and Jehonadab the
son of Rechab into the house of Baal, he
said unto the servants of Baal, Search
diligently, and look, lest there be here
with you any of the servants of the Lord,
but the servants of Baal only. 24 And
when they went in to make sacrifice and
burnt offering, Jehu appointed fourscore
men without, and said, If any of the men
whom I have brought into your hands,
escape, his soul shall be for his soul. 25
And when he had made an end of the
burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard,
and to the captains, Go in, slay them, let
not a man come out. And they smote
them with the edge of the sword. And the
guard, and the captains cast them out,
and went unto the city, where was the
temple of Baal. 26 And they brought out
the images of the temple of Baal, and
burned them. 27 And they destroyed the
image of Baal, and threw down the
house of Baal, and made a jakes of it
unto this day.
28 So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
29 But from the sins of Jeroboam the son
of Nebat which made Israel to sin, Jehu
departed not from them, neither from the
golden calves that were in Beth-el and
that were in Dan.
30 And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because
thou hast diligently executed that which
was right in mine eyes , and hast done
unto the house of Ahab according to all
things that were in mine heart, therefore
shall thy sons unto the fourth generation
sit on the throne of Israel.
31 But Jehu regarded not to walk in the
law of the Lord God of Israel with all
his heart: for he departed not from the
sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to
sin.
32 In those days the Lord began to loath
Israel, and Hazael smote them in all the
coasts of Israel,
33 From Jordan eastward, even all the
land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the
Reubenites, and them that were of
Manasseh, from Aroer (which is by the
river Arnon) and Gilead and Bashan.
34 Concerning the rest of the acts of
Jehu, and all that he did, and all his
valiant deeds, are they not 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
Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
36 And the time that Jehu reigned over
Israel in Samaria is eight and twenty
years.