They went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.

Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, "This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of Jezreel,

and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, "This is Jezebel."'"

Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and to those who brought up the sons of Ahab, saying,

"Now as soon as this letter comes to you, since your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armor.

Select the best and fittest of your master's sons, set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house."

But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, "Behold, the two kings did not stand before him. How then shall we stand?"

He who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who raised the children, sent to Jehu, saying, "We are your servants, and will do all that you ask us. We will not make any man king. You do that which is good in your eyes."

Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, "If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time." Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.

It happened, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and killed them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel.

A messenger came, and told him, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons." He said, "Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning."

It happened in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, "You are righteous. Behold, I conspired against my master, and killed him; but who struck all these?

So Jehu struck all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, with all his great men, his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

He arose and departed, and went to Samaria. As he was at the shearing house of the shepherds on the way,

Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, "Who are you?" They answered, "We are the brothers of Ahaziah. We are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen."

He said, "Take them alive." They took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing house, even forty-two men. He did not leave any of them.

When he had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him, and said to him, "Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?" Jehonadab answered, "It is" And Jehu said, "If it is, give me your hand." He gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.

He said, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD." So he made him ride in his chariot.

Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much.

Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his worshippers, and all of his priests. Let none be absent; for I have a great sacrifice to Baal. Whoever is absent, he shall not live." But Jehu did it in subtlety, intending that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

Jehu sent through all Israel; and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that did not come. They came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another.

Jehu went with Jehonadab the son of Rechab into the house of Baal. Then he said to the worshippers of Baal, "Search, and look that there are here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but the worshippers of Baal only."

They went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed him eighty men outside, and said, "If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him."

It happened, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, "Go in, and kill them. Let none escape." They struck them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.

They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them.

They broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, to this day.

However from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, Jehu did not depart from after them, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

The LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."

In those days the LORD began to cut off from Israel; and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel;

from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place.

Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family.

But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain;

In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD; and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and showed them the king's son.

A third part shall be at the gate Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier.

You shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain. Be with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in."

The captains over hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.

The priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been king David's, which were in the house of the LORD.

The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king.

Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, "Long live the king."

When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the house of the LORD:

and she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the tradition was, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and cried, "Treason. Treason."

Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, "Bring her out between the ranks. Kill him who follows her with the sword." For the priest said, "Do not let her be slain in the house of the LORD."

So they made way for her; and she went by the way of the horses' entry to the king's house. She was slain there.

Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD's people; between the king also and the people.

All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down; his altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.

He took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of the LORD, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. He sat on the throne of the kings.

So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. Athaliah they had slain with the sword at the king's house.

In the seventh year of Jehu began Jehoash to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

However the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the LORD, in current money, the money of the persons for whom each man is rated, and all the money that it comes into any man's heart to bring into the house of the LORD,

let the priests take it to them, every man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach shall be found."

But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.

Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests, and said to them, "Why do you not repair the breaches of the house? Now therefore take no more money from your treasurers, but deliver it for the breaches of the house."

But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the LORD: and the priests who kept the threshold put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD.

It was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD.

They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the LORD: and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders, who worked on the house of the LORD,

and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the breaches of the house of the LORD, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

But there were not made for the house of the LORD cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the LORD;

for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired therewith the house of the LORD.

Moreover they did not demand an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully.

The money for the trespass offerings, and the money for the sin offerings, was not brought into the house of the LORD: it was the priests'.

Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and of the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem.

Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

His servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.

For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years.

He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually.

Jehoahaz begged the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king of Syria oppressed them.

(The LORD gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before.

Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the Asherah also in Samaria.)

For he did not leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his place.

Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness of which he died: and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen."

Elisha said to him, "Take bow and arrows"; and he took to him bow and arrows.

He said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow"; and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands.

He said, "Open the window eastward"; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot." and he shot. He said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you shall strike the Syrians in Aphek, until you have consumed them."

He said, "Take the arrows"; and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground"; and he struck three times, and stopped.

The man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, whereas now you shall strike Syria just three times."

Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

It happened, as they were burying a man, that behold, they spied a band; and they cast the man into the tomb of Elisha: and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

But the LORD was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and had respect to them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet.

Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his place.

Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Joash struck him three times, and recovered the cities of Israel.

He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.

However the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

He killed of Edom in the Valley of Salt ten thousand, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day.

Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife. Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle.

You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?'"

But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

Judah was defeated by Israel; and they fled every man to his tent.

Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

He took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?