2 *Kings 10

₁There were 70 sons of Ahab in the city of Samaria. Jehu sent letters to the leaders of Samaria and to the people who had to look after Ahab's children. He also sent letters to leaders of the town of Jezreel. In the letters he wrote: ₂‘Your king's sons are with you and so are his war-chariots, horses and weapons and you are in a city with strong walls. When you get this letter, ₃you must choose one of the king's sons who will be the best king and put him on the throne of his father. You must fight for the family of your king.’

₄The leaders of Samaria were afraid and said: ‘Jehu has defeated 2 kings. They could not defeat him, and we will also not defeat him.’ ₅The manager of the palace, the chief of the city, the other leaders and the people who had to look after the king's children, sent a message to Jehu and said: ‘We want to work for you. We will do everything you say. We do not want another king. You must do what you think is right.’

₆Jehu wrote another letter and he told them: ‘If you choose to help me and if you want to do what I say, then you must bring the heads of the 70 princes to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow.’ The 70 princes were with important people of the city who had to look after them. ₇When these important people read the letter, they killed all of the 70 princes. They put their heads in baskets and they sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. ₈When they told Jehu that they had brought the princes' heads, he said: ‘Put the heads together in 2 heaps in front of the city gate and let them stay there until tomorrow.’

₉The next morning Jehu went to the city gate and he told all the people: ‘You have not done anything wrong to Ahab. It was I who planned to kill my king. But who has killed all these princes? ₁₀You must know that everything has happened as the Lord said about the family of Ahab. The Lord sent his servant Elijah to bring the message about Ahab and the Lord did what He said.’

₁₁Jehu killed all the people from Ahab's family who were still_alive in the town of Jezreel, and also all the important_officials of Ahab, his friends and his priests. Not one of them stayed alive. ₁₂Then Jehu went to Samaria and on his way he came to the town of Beth-Eked of the Shepherds. ₁₃He met the brothers of King Ahaziah of Judah and he asked them: ‘Who are you?’ They said: ‘We are King Ahaziah's brothers and we are going to find out if all is well with the princes and the sons of the king's mother.’ ₁₄Jehu said to his men: ‘Catch them alive.’ His men caught Ahaziah's brothers and killed them at the water-well of Beth-Eked. They killed all 42 of the men. Not one was alive.

₁₅When Jehu went further, he came to Jonadab, son of Rekab, and he greeted him and said: ‘Jonadab, I am your friend and I want to help you. Do you also want to help me?’ Jonadab said: ‘Yes, I want to help you. Give me your hand.’ Jonadab gave Jehu his hand and he helped Jonadab get onto his war-chariot. ₁₆He said to Jonadab: ‘Come with me. I will show you how I work for the Lord.’ Jonadab went with Jehu on his war-chariot. ₁₇When they came to Samaria, he killed all the family of Ahab who were still_alive in the city. Not one stayed alive. It was like the Lord had said to Elijah.

₁₈Jehu then called together all the people and he told them: ‘Ahab served Baal just a little bit, but I will serve Baal much more. ₁₉So call all the prophets_of_Baal, all his servants and all his priests. Do not let any one of them stay away because I want to give Baal a very big offering. I will kill everyone of Baal who does not come.’ But Jehu lied to them. He wanted to kill everyone who served Baal. ₂₀He said they must tell everyone that there would be a big feast for Baal. They told the people ₂₁and Jehu let all the Israelites know about it. Everyone who served Baal came, and no one stayed at home. They went to the temple of Baal and the temple was full of people, from one side to the other side. ₂₂Then Jehu said to the official who had to look after the clothes: ‘You must bring clothes for everyone who serves Baal.’ The official's helpers brought clothes ₂₃and Jehu and Jonadab, son of Rekab, went into the temple of Baal and they told the people who served Baal: ‘Look around you. No servants of the Lord must be here, only people who serve Baal.’ ₂₄Then they went in to sacrifice the burnt-offerings and the other offerings. Jehu told 80 men to stand outside and he told them: ‘You must kill all these people. If any one of them escapes, then you will die.’

₂₅Immediately after Jehu had finished sacrificing the burnt-offering, he told the guards and the officers to go in and kill everyone. He said: ‘Go in and kill them all. No one must escape.’ They killed all the people who had served Baal. They stabbed them with swords. The guards and officers then threw out the dead bodies. Then they went into the back room of the temple ₂₆and they took the sacred_pillars from the temple of Baal and they threw them into the fire. ₂₇They broke down the sacred_pillars of Baal and destroyed the temple of Baal. They made an ash-heap of it and that is what it is still today.

₂₈This is how Jehu stopped the people in Israel from serving Baal. ₂₉But Jehu did the same sins as Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had made Israel do. They did not stop worshipping the golden bull-calf idols in the towns of Bethel and Dan. ₃₀The Lord said to Jehu: ‘You did things that I like and you did with the family of Ahab what I wanted you to do. So your family will rule and sit on the throne of Israel for 4 generations.’ ₃₁But Jehu did not serve the Lord with all his heart. He did not do what the laws of God say, and he went on doing the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to do.

₃₂In the time that Jehu was king, the Lord started to make the land_of_Israel smaller. King Hazael of Aram attacked the Israelites all over the land and defeated them. ₃₃He took the land east of the Jordan River. It was the land of Gilead where the tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh lived, all the land north of the town of Aroer in the Arnon Valley, to the land of Gilead and the land of Bashan.

₃₄The other things that Jehu did, all the important things that he did, are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Israel. ₃₅Jehu died and his people buried him in Samaria. His son, Jehoahaz, became king after him. ₃₆Jehu was the king_of_Israel in Samaria for 28 years.