Jehu Destroys Baal Worshipers

¹⁸ Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “^(A)Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. ¹⁹ Now, ^(B)summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests; let no one go missing, because I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu did it in deception, in order to eliminate the worshipers of Baal. ²⁰ And Jehu said, “^(C)Proclaim a holy assembly for Baal.” And ^(D)they proclaimed it. ²¹ Then Jehu sent word ^[a]throughout Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a person left who did not come. And when they entered ^(E)the house of Baal, the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other. ²² And he said to the one who was ^[b]in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out the garments for them. ²³ Then Jehu entered the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab; and he said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search carefully and see to it that there is here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but only the worshipers of Baal.” ²⁴ Then they entered to ^[c]offer sacrifices and burnt offerings.

Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he had said, “^(F)The one who allows any of the men whom I bring into your hands to escape ^[d]shall give up his life in exchange.”

²⁵ Then it came about, as soon as he had finished ^[e]offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the ^[f](G)guard and to the royal officers, “^(H)Go in, ^[g]kill them; let none come out.” So they ^[h]killed them with the edge of the sword; and the ^[i]guard and the royal officers threw them out, and went to the ^[j]sanctuary of the house of Baal. ²⁶ They brought out the ^(I)memorial stones of the house of Baal and burned them. ²⁷ They also tore down the memorial stone of Baal and tore down the house of Baal, and ^(J)made it a latrine as it is to this day.

²⁸ So Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel. ²⁹ However, ^(K)as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel, from these Jehu did not desist, including the ^(L)golden calves that were at Bethel and at Dan. ³⁰ Yet the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in performing what is right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab in accordance with everything that was in My heart, ^(M)your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” ³¹ But Jehu ^(N)was not careful to walk in the Law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart; ^(O)he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam, into which he misled Israel.

³² In those days the ^(P)Lord began to cut off pieces from Israel; and ^(Q)Hazael ^[k]defeated them throughout the territory of Israel: ³³ from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites; from ^(R)Aroer, which is by the Valley of the Arnon, that is, ^(S)Gilead and Bashan.

Jehoahaz Succeeds Jehu

³⁴ Now as for the rest of the acts of Jehu and everything that he did and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ³⁵ And Jehu ^[l]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And his son Jehoahaz became king in his place. ³⁶ So the ^[m]time which Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.