⁶Then Jehu wrote a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side and will obey me, cut off the heads of your master’s sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow about this time.”

Now the seventy sons of the king’s family were with the leading men of the city who were their guardians. ⁷When the leaders received the letter, they took the king’s sons and killed all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel. ⁸The messenger came to Jehu and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.”

Then Jehu said, “Lay the heads in two piles at the city gate until morning.”

⁹In the morning, Jehu went out and stood before the people and said to them, “You are innocent. Look, I made plans against my master and killed him. But who killed all these? ¹⁰You should know that everything the Lord said about Ahab’s family will come true. The Lord has spoken through his servant Elijah, and the Lord has done what he said.” ¹¹So Jehu killed everyone of Ahab’s family in Jezreel who was still alive. He also killed all Ahab’s leading men, close friends, and priests. No one who had helped Ahab was left alive.

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