⁷ And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king's sons ^(A)and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. ⁸ When the 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.” ⁹ Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. ^(B)It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these?