<t /><p class="bodytext">Ahab had seventy sons living in Samaria.<n id="1" /> So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the leading officials of Jezreel and to the guardians of Ahab&#8217;s dynasty. This is what the letters said,<n id="2" />

the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak,<n id="1" /> and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech,<n id="2" /> the gods of Sepharvaim.

<t /><p class="bodytext">At that time Merodach-Baladan<n id="1" /> son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah was ill.