2 Kings 10:1-11

Living Bible

10 Then Jehu wrote a letter to the city council of Samaria and to the guardians of Ahab’s seventy sons—all of whom were living there.

^2-3 “Upon receipt of this letter, select the best one of Ahab’s sons to be your king, and prepare to fight for his throne. For you have chariots and horses and a fortified city and an armory.”

⁴ But they were too frightened to do it. “Two kings couldn’t stand against this man! What can we do?” they said.

⁵ So the manager of palace affairs and the city manager, together with the city council and the guardians of Ahab’s sons, sent him this message:

“Jehu, we are your servants and will do anything you tell us to. We have decided that you should be our king instead of one of Ahab’s sons.”

⁶ Jehu responded with this message: “If you are on my side and are going to obey me, bring the heads of your master’s sons to me at Jezreel at about this time tomorrow.”

(These seventy sons of King Ahab were living in the homes of the chief men of the city, where they had been raised since childhood.) ⁷ When the letter arrived, all seventy of them were murdered, and their heads were packed into baskets and presented to Jehu at Jezreel. ⁸ When a messenger told Jehu that the heads of the king’s sons had arrived, he said to pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the city gate, and to leave them there until the next morning.

^9-10 In the morning he went out and spoke to the crowd that had gathered around them. “You aren’t to blame,” he told them. “I conspired against my master and killed him, but I didn’t kill his sons! The Lord has done that, for everything he says comes true. He declared through his servant Elijah that this would happen to Ahab’s descendants.”

¹¹ Jehu then killed all the rest of the members of the family of Ahab who were in Jezreel, as well as all of his important officials, personal friends, and private chaplains. Finally, no one was left who had been close to him in any way.^[a]