Jehu Destroys the Slaves of Baal

¹⁸ Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “^(A)Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. ¹⁹ So now, ^(B)summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his slaves and all his priests; let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu did it in ^[a]cunning, so that he might cause the slaves of Baal to perish. ²⁰ And Jehu said, “^(C)Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal.” And ^(D)they summoned them. ²¹ Then Jehu sent ^[b]throughout Israel, and all the slaves of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. So they came into ^(E)the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other. ²² Then he said to the one who was ^[c]in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the slaves of Baal.” So he brought out garments for them. ²³ And Jehu came into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab; and he said to the slaves of Baal, “Search and see lest there be here with you any of the slaves of Yahweh, but only the slaves of Baal.” ²⁴ Then they came in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings.

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

²⁵ Now it happened that as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the ^[e](G)guard and to the royal officers, “^(H)Come in, strike them down; let none come out.” And they struck them down with the edge of the sword; and the ^[f]guard and the royal officers threw them out and went to the ^[g]inner room of the house of Baal. ²⁶ And they brought out the sacred ^(I)pillars of the house of Baal and burned them. ²⁷ They also broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and broke down the house of Baal and ^(J)made it a latrine to this day.

²⁸ Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.