1Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to those who brought up Ahab's children. He wrote:
2"As soon as this letter comes to you, since your master's sons are with you, and you have chariots and horses, a walled city and weapons,"
3"choose the best and the fittest of your master's sons. Set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house."
4But they were terribly afraid, and said, "Look, two kings could not stand before him. How then shall we stand?"
5So the man over the house, and the man over the city, and the elders, and those who brought up the children, sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants, and we will do all that you tell us. We will not make anyone king. Do what seems good to you."
6Then he wrote them a second letter: "If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men who are your master's sons, and come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow." Now the king's sons, seventy of them, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing them up.
7When the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and killed all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
8A 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."
9In the morning he went out and stood, and said to all the people, "You are righteous. Look, I plotted against my master and killed him. But who killed all these?"
10"Know then that nothing of the word of the LORD shall fall to the ground, the word the LORD spoke about the house of Ahab. The LORD has done what he spoke through his servant Elijah."
11So Jehu killed all who were left of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his relatives, and his priests, until he left him no one alive.
12Then he set out and went towards Samaria. On the way he came to the shearing house,
13and there Jehu met the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah. He said, "Who are you?" They answered, "We are the brothers of Ahaziah. We are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen."
14He said, "Take them alive." So they took them alive and killed them at the pit of the shearing house, forty-two men. He did not leave one of them.
15When he had left there, he came upon Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, "Is your heart right with me, as my heart is with your heart?" Jehonadab answered, "It is." "If it is, give me your hand." So he gave him his hand, and Jehu took him up into the chariot.
16He said, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD." So they made him ride in his chariot.
17When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left of Ahab's family in Samaria, until he had destroyed them, just as the LORD had said to Elijah.
18Then Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much."
19"So now call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests. Let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to make to Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu did this with cunning, so that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
20And Jehu said, "Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal." So they proclaimed it.
21Jehu sent word through all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came. Not one man was left who did not come. They went into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was full from one end to the other.
22He said to the man in charge of the robe room, "Bring out robes for all the worshippers of Baal." So he brought out robes for them.
23Then Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, and said to the worshippers of Baal, "Search and see that there is no servant of the LORD here among you, but only the worshippers of Baal."
24So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside, and had said, "If any of the men I put into your hands escapes, the one who lets him go shall give his own life for his life."
25As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, "Go in and kill them. Let no one come out." So they struck them down with the edge of the sword. The guard and the captains threw the bodies out, and went on to the city of the house of Baal.
26They brought out the images from the house of Baal and burned them.
27They broke down the image of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, as it is to this day.
28So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
29But Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan.
30The LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart, your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."
31But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin.
32In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short. Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel:
33from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
34The rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
35Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.
36The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.