²¹ See, I will send evil on you and put an end to you completely, cutting off from Ahab every male child, him who is shut up and him who goes free in Israel;

¹⁰ So I will send evil on the line of Jeroboam, cutting off from his family every male child, those who are shut up and those who go free in Israel; the family of Jeroboam will be brushed away like a man brushing away waste till it is all gone.

²⁶ For the Lord saw how bitter was the trouble of Israel, and that everyone was cut off, he who was shut up and he who went free, and that Israel had no helper.

³⁰ And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes and effecting all my purpose for the family of Ahab, your sons will be kings of Israel to the fourth generation.

¹⁷ And when he came to Samaria, he put to death all those of Ahab's family who were still in Samaria, till there were no more of them, as the Lord had said to Elijah.

¹¹ So Jehu put to death all the rest of the seed of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his relations and his near friends and his priests, till there were no more of them.

¹² Then he got up and came to Samaria. And he was at the meeting-place of the keepers of sheep, by the way,

¹³ When he came across the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah; we are going down to see the children of the king and of the queen.

¹⁴ And he said, Take them living. So they took them living, and put them to death in the water-hole of Beth-eked; of the forty-two men he put every one to death;

¹ Now there were in Samaria seventy of Ahab's sons. And Jehu sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of the town, and to the responsible men, and to those who had the care of the sons of Ahab, saying,

² Straight away, when you get this letter, seeing that your master's sons are with you, and that you have carriages and horses and a walled town and arms;

³ Take the best and most upright of your master's sons, and make him king in his father's place, and put up a fight for your master's family.

⁴ But they were full of fear, and said, The two kings have gone down before him: how may we keep our place?

⁵ So the controller of the king's house, with the ruler of the town, and the responsible men, and those who had the care of Ahab's sons, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants and will do all your orders; we will not make any man king; do whatever seems best to you.

⁶ Then he sent them a second letter, saying, If you are on my side, and if you will do my orders, come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow, with the heads of your master's sons. Now the king's seventy sons were with the great men of the town, who had the care of them.

⁷ And when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and put them to death, all the seventy, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

⁷ You are to see that the family of Ahab your master is cut off, so that I may take from Jezebel payment for the blood of my servants the prophets, and for the blood of all the servants of the Lord.

⁸ For the family of Ahab will come to an end; every male of Ahab's family will be cut off, he who is shut up and he who goes free in Israel.

⁹ I will make the family of Ahab like that of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and Baasha, the son of Ahijah.

³⁴ For truly, by the living Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from doing you evil, if you had not been so quick in coming to me and meeting me, by dawn there would not have been in Nabal's house so much as one male living.

²² May God's punishment be on David, if when morning comes there is so much as one male of his people still living.

³⁶ For the Lord will be judge of his people, he will have pity for his servants; when he sees that their power is gone, there is no one, shut up or free.

⁵ You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship: for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honour to another; and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation of my haters;

⁶ And I will have mercy through a thousand generations on those who have love for me and keep my laws.