2 Kings 10–12

Jehu Continues Purging the House of Ahab

10Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote letters, and he sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab, saying, ²“Now, when this letter comes to you and your master’s sons are with you, the chariots are with you, the horses, a fortified city, and weapons, ³then you must select the best and the most suitable from the sons of your master, and you must place him on the throne of his father, and they must fight for the house of your masters.” ⁴But they were very afraid, and they said, “Look, two kings could not stand before him; how can we stand?” ⁵So whoever was over the house, and whoever was over the city, and the elders and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants; all that you say to us, we shall do. We shall not make anyone a king. Do what is good in your eyes.”

⁶Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are for me, and you are listening to my voice, take the heads of the men of the sons of your master and come to me at this time tomorrow at Jezreel.” Now the sons of the king, seventy men, were with the leaders of the city who were raising them. ⁷When the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king, and they killed seventy men. Then they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. ⁸Then the messenger came and told him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons,” and he said, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the gate until morning.” ⁹It happened in the morning that he went out, stood, and said to all of the people, “You are righteous. Look, I conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all of these? ¹⁰Know then that the word of Yahweh will not fail^a which Yahweh spoke concerning the house of Ahab; Yahweh has done what he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah. ¹¹Then Jehu killed all of the remainder of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all of his leaders, his close friends, and his priests, until there was no survivor left for him.

¹²Then he arose and went and came to Samaria. On the way, he was at Beth-Eked of the shepherds, ¹³and Jehu met the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah. He asked, “Who are you?” They said, “We are the brothers of Ahaziah; we came down for the peace of the king’s children and the children of the queen.” ¹⁴Then he said, “Seize them alive!” So they seized them alive but then slaughtered them at the cistern of Beth-Eked, forty-two men. He did not allow any of them to survive.

¹⁵Next he went from there and found Jehonadab the son of Recab to meet him. He greeted him and asked him, “Is your heart right with me as my heart is with you?”^b Then Jehonadab said, “Yes, it is. Give your hand!” And he gave his hand and took him up to him on the chariot. ¹⁶Then he said, “Come with me! Look at my zeal for Yahweh!” So he let him ride in his chariot. ¹⁷Then he came to Samaria and killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria until he wiped them out, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken to Elijah.

Jehu Purges the Baal Worshipers

¹⁸Then Jehu assembled all of the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will worship him greatly. ¹⁹So then, summon to me all of the prophets of Baal and all of his servants and his priests; no man should fail to come, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come shall not live!” Now Jehu was acting with cunning in order to destroy the servants of Baal. ²⁰Then Jehu said, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal!” So they proclaimed it. ²¹Jehu sent word through all of Israel, and all of the servants of Baal came; there did not remain a man who did not come. They came to the house of Baal so that the house of Baal was filled from wall to wall.^{c 22}He said to the one who was over the wardrobe, “Bring out clothing for all of the servants of Baal.” So he brought the clothing out for them. ²³Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Recab came to the temple of Baal, and he said to the servants of Baal, “Search and see that there is none of the servants of Yahweh here with you; only those who serve Baal.” ²⁴They came to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he said, “The man who lets anyone escape from the men who I am entrusting to you,^d he will pay with his life!”^e

²⁵It happened that when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the royal guard and to the officers, “Come and kill them; let no man go free!” So they put them to the sword,^f and the royal guard and the officers threw them out, then they went up to the citadel of the temple of Baal. ²⁶They brought out the stone pillars of the temple of Baal and burned them.^{g 27}So they broke down the stone pillars of Baal and destroyed the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine until this day. ²⁸So Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel.

²⁹Only Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat by which he caused Israel to sin; namely, the calf-shaped idols of gold that were in Bethel and Dan. ³⁰Yahweh said to Jehu, “Because you have done well by doing right in my eyes and you have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart; therefore, sons of the fourth generation will sit for you on the throne of Israel.” ³¹But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of Yahweh God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam by which he caused Israel to sin.

³²In those days, Yahweh began to reduce Israel, so Hazael defeated them in every territory of Israel, ³³from the Jordan eastward: all of the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer which is on the Wadi^h Arnon and Gilead and Bashan. ³⁴Now the remainder of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all of his powerful deeds, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? ³⁵So Jehu slept with his ancestors,ⁱ and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son became king in his place. ³⁶Now the days which Jehu had reigned over Israel were twenty-eight years in Samaria.

Athaliah Usurps the Throne in Judah

11Now Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, so she prepared to destroy all of the offspring of the royal family. ²But Jehosheba the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah took Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, and she stole him from among the sons of the king who were being put to death, putting him and his nurse in the inner bedroom. So they hid him from the presence of Athaliah, and he was not killed. ³He remained with her in the temple of Yahweh, hidden for six years while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

⁴But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and took the commanders of the hundreds of the Carites and the runners, and he brought them to himself to the temple of Yahweh. Then he made^a a covenant with them and made them swear in the house of Yahweh and showed them the son of the king. ⁵He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you must do: one third of you who go off duty on the Sabbath,^b the keepers of the guard in the house of the king, ⁶and another third at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the runners, shall guard the post of the palace alternately. ⁷Two of the units among you, all who go on duty on the Sabbath,^c guard the post of the temple of Yahweh for the king. ⁸You must surround the king all about, each with his weapon in his hand; whoever comes to the ranks must be killed. Be with the king wherever he goes.”^d

⁹So the commanders of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and each took his men who went off duty on the Sabbath^e and those who came on duty on the Sabbath,^f and they came to Jehoiada the priest. ¹⁰Then the priest gave to the commanders of the hundreds spears and small round shields which were King David’s, which were in the temple of Yahweh. ¹¹So the royal runners stood, each with his weapons in his hand, from the side of the temple to the south up to the side of the temple on the north, around the altar and around the temple, about the king all around. ¹²Then he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him with the testimony, and they made him king, anointed him, clapped their hands, and said, “Long live the king!”

¹³When Athaliah heard the sound of the runners of the people, she came to the people at the temple of Yahweh. ¹⁴She looked, and there was the king standing by the pillar according to the custom. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all of the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing on the trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and she called, “Treason, treason!” ¹⁵Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the commanders of the hundreds, the appointed of the army, and he said to them, “Bring her out to the house of the ranks! The one coming after her should kill her with the sword,” for the priest had said, “Let her not be killed in the temple of Yahweh.” ¹⁶So they grabbed her^g as she went by the entranceway of the horses to the palace of the king, and she was killed there. ¹⁷Then Jehoiada made^h a covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people, that the people should be as a people for Yahweh, and also a covenant between the king and the people. ¹⁸Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down, and its altars and its images they broke completely into pieces. Mattan the priest of Baal they killed in front of the altars. Then the priest put guards over the house of Yahweh. ¹⁹He took the commanders of the hundreds and the Carites and the runners and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the temple of Yahweh. And they marched by the way of the runner’s gate to the palace of the king, and he sat on the throne of the kings. ²⁰All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city rested; for Athaliah had been killed with the sword in the palace of the…