2 Kings 10:5-7

10:5 So the palace supervisor, ¹  the city commissioner, ²  the leaders, ³  and the guardians sent this message to Jehu, “We are your subjects! ⁴  Whatever you say, we will do. We will not make anyone king. Do what you consider proper.” ⁵ 

10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ⁶  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ⁷  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ⁸  men of the city were raising them. 10:7 When they received the letter, they seized the king’s sons and executed all seventy of them. ⁹  They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.

¹ tn Heb “the one who was over the house.”

² tn Heb “the one who was over the city.”

³ tn Or “elders.”

⁴ tn Heb “servants.”

⁵ tn Heb “Do what is good in your eyes.”

⁶ tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

⁷ sn Jehu’s command is intentionally vague. Does he mean that they should bring the guardians (those who are “heads” over Ahab’s sons) for a meeting, or does he mean that they should bring the literal heads of Ahab’s sons with them? (So LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum) The city leaders interpret his words in the literal sense, but Jehu’s command is so ambiguous he is able to deny complicity in the executions (see v. 9).

⁸ tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.

⁹ tn Heb “and when the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered seventy men.”