Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, and to the  ¹guardians of the children of Ahab, saying,

Now then, when this letter comes to you, since your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons,

Look for the best and fittest of your master's sons, and set him on the throne of his father, and fight for your master's house.

But they feared very greatly and said, If the two kings could not stand before him, how then can we stand before him?

And he who was over the household and he that was over the city and the elders and the guardians of the children sent word to Jehu, saying, We are your servants; all that you say to us, we will do. We will not make anyone king. What is good in your sight, do.

Then he wrote a letter to them a second time, saying, If you are mine and listen to my voice, take the heads of the sons of your master, and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time. Now the king's sons, seventy men, were with the great men of the city, who had brought them up.

And when the letter reached them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy men; and they placed their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.

And the messenger came and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Put them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.

And in the morning he went out and stood and said to all the people, You are righteous. I conspired against my master and have killed him; but who struck all these?

Know therefore that nothing of the word of Jehovah, which Jehovah spoke concerning the house of Ahab, shall fall to the earth; for Jehovah has done that which He spoke through His servant Elijah.

So Jehu killed all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel and all his great men and his acquaintances and his priests, until he left him no one remaining.

Then he rose up and departed and came into Samaria. And while he was at the  ¹shepherds' meeting place on the way,

Jehu came upon the brothers of Ahaziah the king of Judah; and he said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother.

And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive and slew them, forty-two men, at the pit of the  ¹meeting place; and he left not one of them remaining.

And when he departed from there, he came upon Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart? And Jehonadab said, It is. And Jehu said, If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand, and Jehu took him up to himself into the chariot.

And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah. So they made him ride in his chariot.

And when he came to Samaria, he struck all who were left to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Jehovah, which He spoke to Elijah.

And Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.

Now call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be missing. For I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal. Whoever is missing will not live. But Jehu acted in subtlety, in order that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

And Jehu said, Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it.

And Jehu sent word throughout all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came; and there was not one left who did not come. And they came to the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other.

And he said to the one who was over the wardrobe, Bring out garments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought out the garments to them.

And Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Rechab came to the house of Baal; and he said to the worshippers of Baal, Search and see that none of the servants of Jehovah are here with you; only the worshippers of Baal should be here.

And they came to offer sacrifice and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside; and he had said, He who allows any of the men to escape whom I bring into your hands will give up his life instead.

And when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and to the captains, Go in and slay them; let no one get out. And they struck them with the edge of the sword. And the guards and the captains threw them out, and they went to the  ¹inner room of the house of Baal.

And they brought out the pillars of the house of Baal and burned them.

And they broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal and made it a latrine, as it is to this day.

Thus Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel.

However as regards the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,  ¹by which he caused Israel to sin, Jehu did not turn away from them, that is, the  ²golden calves which were in Bethel and in Dan.

And Jehovah said to Jehu,  ¹Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes and have dealt with the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of Jehovah the God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, by which he caused Israel to sin.

In those days Jehovah began to cut away portions of land in Israel, and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel

From the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, both Gilead and Bashan.

And the 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?

And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place.

Now the time which Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose up and destroyed all the royal seed.

But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were to be killed;  ¹she put him and his nurse into the bedchamber. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not killed.

And he was with her, hidden in the house of Jehovah, for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.

Then in the seventh year Jehoiada sent word and gathered the captains of the hundreds over the Carites and over the guards and brought them to him at the house of Jehovah. And he made a covenant with them and put them under an oath in the house of Jehovah, then showed them the king's son.

And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that you shall do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath shall keep watch over the king's house;

And another third shall keep watch in the gate of Sur; and another third shall keep watch at the gate behind the guards. You shall keep watch over the house for a defense.

And the two divisions of you, all who go off duty on the Sabbath, shall keep watch over the house of Jehovah for the king.

And you shall surround the king, each man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever enters the ranks shall be put to death; and you shall be with the king in his goings and comings.

And the captains of the hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded them. And each took his men, those who came on duty on the Sabbath with those who went off duty on the Sabbath; and they came to Jehoiada the priest.

And the priest gave the spears and shields that had belonged to King David, which were in the house of Jehovah, to the captains of the hundreds.

And the guards stood, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the right flank of the house to the left flank of the house, by the altar and by the house, to guard the king all around.

And he brought the king's son out and gave him the crown and the testimony. And they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, Long live the king!

Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went to the people at the house of Jehovah.

And she looked, and there was the king, standing by the pillar, according to the custom, with captains and their trumpets near the king. And all the people of the land rejoiced and blew the trumpets. And Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, Treason! Treason!

And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds who had been set over the army and said to them, Bring her out between the ranks, and anyone who follows her kill with a sword; for the priest said, She shall not be killed in the house of Jehovah.

And they made way for her, and she went to the house of the king through the horses' entrance and was killed there.

And Jehoiada made a covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they would be Jehovah's people, and also between the king and the people.

And all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and broke it down: The altars to him and his images they shattered to pieces, and they slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Jehovah.

And  ¹Jehoiada gathered the captains of the hundreds and the Carites and the guards and all the people of the land. And they brought the king down from the house of Jehovah and came by way of the guard gate to the house of the king, and he sat upon the throne of the kings.

And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; for they had slain Athaliah with the sword at the house of the king.

 ¹Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.

And Jehoash did what was right in the sight of Jehovah all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

However the  ¹high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the sanctified things which goes into the house of Jehovah — the money of everyone who passes through the numbering, the money of each person's assessment, and all the money that comes up in the heart of anyone to bring into the house of Jehovah —

Let the priests take, each man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair what is broken in the house, wherever anything is found broken.

But as of the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired what was broken in the house.

So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests and said to them, Why have you not been repairing what is broken in the house? Now therefore take no more money from your acquaintances, but deliver it for what is broken in the house.

And the priests agreed that they would neither take money from the people nor repair what was broken in the house.

Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of Jehovah. And the priests who guarded the threshold put all the money that came into the house of Jehovah into it.

And whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest would go up and bind the money that came into the house of Jehovah in bags and count it.

And they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and these would pay it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of Jehovah,

And to the masons and to the stone hewers and for the purchase of timber and hewn stone, to repair what was broken in the house of Jehovah, and for any other outlay to repair the house.

But there were no cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, or any vessels of gold or any vessels of silver prepared for the house of Jehovah out of the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah;

For they gave it all to those who did the work, who repaired the house of Jehovah with it.

And they did not ask for an accounting from the men into whose hands they had given the money to use for doing the work, for these worked faithfully.

The money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of Jehovah; it was the priests'.

At that time Hazael the king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. And Hazael set his face to go up toward Jerusalem.

And Jehoash the king of Judah took all the sanctified things which Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers the kings of Judah, had sanctified and his own sanctified things and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of Jehovah and the house of the king; and he sent it to Hazael the king of Syria. And he went up from Jerusalem.

And the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And his servants rose up and formed a conspiracy. And they struck Joash down in the house of Millo, on the way that leads down to Silla.

And it was Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down; and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.