II Kings 10 Jehu Exterminates the House of Ahab

 II Kings 10

Jehu Exterminates the House of Ahab

1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the princes of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying,

2 Now when this letter has come to you, for your master's sons are with you, and the chariots, and the horses, and the fortified city, and the weapons,

3 Look to the best and most upright of your master's sons, who sits on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house.

4 But they were greatly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings could not stand before him; how then can we stand before him?

5 Then the one who was over the house, and the one who was over the city, and the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants, and we will do whatever you say to us: We will make no one king; do what is good in your eyes.

6 Then he wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are mine and will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel tomorrow about this time.” (The king’s sons were seventy men with the noblemen of the city who provided them.)

7 So it was that when the letter reached them, they took the king’s sons and killed seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jezreel.

8 Then a messenger came and told him, “The heads of the king’s sons have been brought.” And he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until tomorrow.”

9 And it came to pass in the morning, when he went out, that he stood and said to all the people, “You are righteous. Behold, I conspired against my master and killed him. But who struck down all these?

10 Now therefore know that nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke against the house of Ahab, will fall to the ground, for the Lord has done what he spoke through his servant Elijah.

11 And Jehu struck down all the remnant of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his lords, his acquaintances, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

12 Then he arose and departed, and went to Samaria. And he stood by the way at Beth-eked of the shepherds.

13 Jehu found the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the king's sons and the queen's sons.

14 Then he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the well of Beth-eked, even forty and two men; and they left none of them remaining.