2 Kings 10:5-7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 So the master of the palace and the chief of the city, along with the elders and the guardians, sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants, and we will do everything you tell us. We will proclaim no one king; do whatever you think best.” 6 So Jehu wrote them a second letter: “If you are on my side and will obey me, bring along the heads of your master’s sons[a] and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” (The seventy princes were in the care of prominent men of the city, who were rearing them.)
7 When the letter arrived, they took the princes and slew all seventy of them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 10:6 Heads of your master’s sons: Jehu’s command is cleverly ambiguous. He allows the Samarian leaders to understand “heads” either literally or metaphorically as “most important individuals.” Then, when the leaders decapitate Ahab’s potential successors, Jehu can claim to be innocent of their blood (v. 9).
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