Jehu Kills Ahab’s Family

10 Ahab had seventy sons living in the city of Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the elders and officials of the city,^[a] and to the guardians of King Ahab’s sons. He said,

³² For the message the Lord told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”

³⁰ He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives.

⁹ Then Jehu’s men searched for Ahaziah, and they found him hiding in the city of Samaria. They brought him to Jehu, who killed him. Ahaziah was given a decent burial because the people said, “He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat—a man who sought the Lord with all his heart.” But none of the surviving members of Ahaziah’s family was capable of ruling the kingdom.

³ One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.”

⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and other leaders of the town where Naboth lived. ⁹ In her letters she commanded: “Call the citizens together for a time of fasting, and give Naboth a place of honor. ¹⁰ And then seat two scoundrels across from him who will accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.”

¹¹ So the elders and other town leaders followed the instructions Jezebel had written in the letters. ¹² They called for a fast and put Naboth at a prominent place before the people. ¹³ Then the two scoundrels came and sat down across from him. And they accused Naboth before all the people, saying, “He cursed God and the king.” So he was dragged outside the town and stoned to death. ¹⁴ The town leaders then sent word to Jezebel, “Naboth has been stoned to death.”

²⁸ When Omri died, he was buried in Samaria. Then his son Ahab became the next king.

²⁴ Then Omri bought the hill now known as Samaria from its owner, Shemer, for 150 pounds of silver.^[a] He built a city on it and called the city Samaria in honor of Shemer.

¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years.

⁴ His thirty sons rode around on thirty donkeys, and they owned thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are still called the Towns of Jair.^[a]