1Ahab 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,
2Now 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)
3Consider 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.
4But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold two kings could not stand before him, how shall we then stand?
5And 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.
6Then 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)
7And 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.
8Then 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.
9And 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?
10Know 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.
11So 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.
12And he arose, and departed, and came to Samaria. And as Jehu was in the way by an house where the shepherds did shear,
13He 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.
14And 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.
15And 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.
16And he said, Come with me, and see the zeal that I have for the Lord: so they made him ride in his chariot.
17And 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.
18Then Jehu assembled all the people, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much more.
19Now therefore call unto me all ye 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.
20And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it.
21So 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.
22Then he said unto him that had the charge of the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the servants of Baal. And he brought them out vestments.
23And 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.
24And when they went in to make sacrifice and burnt offering, Jehu appointed four score men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands, escape, his soul shall be for his soul.
25And 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.
26And they brought out the images of the temple of Baal, and burnt them.
27And they destroyed the image of Baal, and threw down the house of Baal, and made a jakes of it unto this day.
28So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
29But 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 Bethel and that were in Dan.
30And 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.
31But 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.
32In those days the Lord began to loathe Israel, and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel,
33From 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.
34Concerning 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?
35And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
36And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria is eight and twenty years.