2 Kings 10:1-17 - Jehu Continues Purging The House Of Ahab
1 Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of the town, and to the elders, and to those who took care of the sons of Ahab. The letter stated: 2 You are in charge of the king's descendants, and you have at your disposal chariots, horses, weapons, and fortified cities. As soon as you receive this letter, 3 choose the best qualified of the king's descendants and make him king, and fight to defend him.
4 The rulers of Samaria were terrified. They said: How can we oppose Jehu when neither King Joram nor King Ahaziah could?
5 So the officer in charge of the palace and the official in charge of the city, together with the leading citizens and the guardians, sent this message to Jehu: We are your servants, and we are ready to do anything you say. But we will not make anyone king. Do whatever you think best.
6 Jehu wrote them another letter: If you are with me and are ready to follow my orders, bring the heads of King Ahab's descendants to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow. The seventy descendants of King Ahab were under the care and were being brought up by the leading citizens of Samaria. 7 As soon as Jehu's letter arrived, the leaders of Samaria killed all seventy of Ahab's descendants and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel. 8 Jehu was informed that the heads of Ahab's descendants had been brought. He ordered them to be piled up in two heaps at the city gate and left there until the following morning.
9 In the morning he went out and said to all the people there: You are upright people. It is true that I made designs against my master, and put him to death. Who is responsible for the death of all these? 10 You may be certain that nothing Jehovah said about the family of Ahab will be without effect. Jehovah has done what he said by his servant Elijah. 11 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 Jehu then left for Samaria. He was at the meeting-place of the shepherds of the sheep. 13 He came across the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and asked: Who are you? They replied: 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 He ordered: Take them alive. So they took them alive and then killed them at the cistern of the shearing house. He killed all forty-two of them.
15 When he left there he met Jehonadab, the son of Rechab. He greeted him and said to him: Is your heart true to mine, as mine is to yours? Jehonadab in answer said: It is. Jehu said: If it is give me your hand. He gave him his hand and he made him come up into his chariot. 16 He said: Come with me and see how I am on fire with zeal for Jehovah's cause. So he made him go with him in his chariot. 17 When Jehu arrived at Samaria, he put to death all those of Ahab's family who were still in Samaria. There were no more of them, as Jehovah had said to Elijah.