2 Kings 10:6-14

10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ¹  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ²  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ³  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. ⁴  They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel. 10:8 The messenger came and told Jehu, ⁵  “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Jehu ⁶  said, “Stack them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.” 10:9 In the morning he went out and stood there. Then he said to all the people, “You are innocent. I conspired against my master and killed him. But who struck down all of these men? 10:10 Therefore take note that not one of the judgments the Lord announced against Ahab’s dynasty has failed to materialize. The Lord had done what he announced through his servant Elijah.” ⁷  10:11 Then Jehu killed all who were left of Ahab’s family in Jezreel, and all his nobles, close friends, and priests. He left no survivors.

10:12 Jehu then left there and set out for Samaria. ⁸  While he was traveling through Beth Eked of the Shepherds, 10:13 Jehu encountered ⁹  the relatives ¹⁰  of King Ahaziah of Judah. He asked, “Who are you?” They replied, “We are Ahaziah’s relatives. We have come down to see how ¹¹  the king’s sons and the queen mother’s sons are doing.” 10:14 He said, “Capture them alive!” So they captured them alive and then executed all forty-two of them in the cistern at Beth Eked. He left no survivors.

[10:6]  ¹ tn Heb “If you are mine and you are listening to my voice.”

[10:6]  ² 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).

[10:6]  ³ tn Heb “great,” probably in wealth, position, and prestige.

[10:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “and when the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered seventy men.”

[10:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Know then that there has not fallen from the word of the Lord to the ground that which the Lord spoke against the house of Ahab. The Lord has done that which he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah.”

[10:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he arose and went and came to Samaria.”

[10:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “found.”

[10:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “brothers.”

[10:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for the peace of.”