Ahab’s Seventy Sons Killed 1Ahab had threescore & ten sonnes in Samaria: And Iehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, vnto the rulers of Iezrahel, to the elders, and to them that brought vp Ahabs children, saying: 2Nowe when this letter commeth to you (ye that haue with you your maisters sonnes, ye haue with you both charets and horses, a strong citie haue ye also, and harnesse) 3Loke which of your maisters sonnes is best and most meete, and set him on his fathers seate, and fight for your lordes house. 4But they were exceedingly afrayde, & sayde: See, two kinges were not able to stande before him: howe shall we then be able to stande? 5And he that was gouernour of Ahabs house, & he that ruled the citie, the elders also, & the tutours, sent to Iehu, saying: We are thy seruauntes, & will do all that thou shalt byd vs, we wil make no man king: therefore do thou what seemeth good in thyne eyes. 6Then he wrote another letter to them, saying: If ye be myne, and wil hearken vnto my voyce, then take the heades of the men that are your maisters sonnes, and come to me to Iezrahel by to morowe this time: (And the kinges sonnes were threescore and ten persons, and they were with the great men of the citie which brought them vp.) 7And when the letter came to them, they toke the kinges children, and slue them, euen threescore and ten persons, & layed their heades in baskettes, and sent them to him to Iezrahel. 8And there came a messenger, and told him, saying: They haue brought the heades of the kinges sonnes. And he said: Let them lay them on two heapes in the entring in of the gate, vntill the morning. 9And when it was day, he went out, and stoode, and sayde to al the folke, Ye be righteous: Behold, I conspired against my maister, and slue him: But who slue all these? 10Learne here that there shall fall vnto the earth nothing of the worde of the Lorde, whiche he spake concerning the house of Ahab: For the Lorde hath brought to passe ye thinges that he spake by the hande of his seruaunt Elias. 11And so Iehu slue all that remayned of the house of Ahab in Iezrahel, and all that were great with him, and his kinsfolkes, and his priestes, so that he let nothing of him remayne. 12And he arose, & departed, and came to Samaria: And when Iehu was in the way of the house where the sheepheardes dyd sheare their sheepe, 13He met with the brethren of Ahaziahu king of Iuda, and sayde: What are ye? They aunswered: The brethren of Ahaziahu are we, and go downe to salute the children of the king & of the queene. 14And he said: Take them alyue. Whom when they had taken them alyue, they slue them at the wel whiche was beside the house where the sheepe are shoren, euen two and fourtie men, neither left he any of them. 15And when he was departed thence, he met with Iehonadab the sonne of Rechab comming against him, and he blessed him, & sayde to him: Is thyne heart right, as myne heart is true with thine? And Iehonadab aunswered: Yea that it is. Then geue me thyne hand. And when he had geuen him his hande, he toke him vp to him into the charet, 16And sayde: Come with me, and see the zeale that I haue for the Lord. And so they made him ride in his charet. 17And when he came to Samaria, he slue al that remained vnto Ahab in Samaria, till he had wiped him out, accorcording to the saying of the Lord which he spake to Elias. Jehu Kills the Priests of Baal 18And Iehu gathered all the people together, and sayd vnto them: Ahab serued Baal a litle, but Iehu shall serue him more. 19Now therfore call vnto me all the prophetes of Baal, all such as serue him, and al his priestes, & let none be lacking: For I haue a great sacrifice to do to Baal, & therefore whosoeuer is missed he shall not lyue. But Iehu dyd it for a sutteltie, to the intent that he might destroy the seruauntes of Baal. 20And Iehu sayde: Proclayme an holy conuocation for Baal. And they proclaymed it. 21And Iehu sent vnto all Israel, and al the seruauntes of Baal came, that there was not a man left behind that came not: And they came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was full from one ende to another. 22And he sayde vnto him that was the keper of the vestrie: Bring foorth garmentes for all the seruauntes of Baal. And he brought them out garmentes. 23And when Iehu went with Iehonadab the sonne of Rechab into the house of Baal, he sayd vnto the seruauntes of Baal: Searche, & loke that ther be here with you none of the seruauntes of the Lord, but the seruauntes of Baal only. 24And when they went in to offer sacrifice and burnt offring, Iehu appoynted foure score men without, and sayde: If any of ye men whom I haue brought vnder your handes escape, he that letteth him go, shall dye for him. 25And it fortuned, that assoone as he had made an ende of offring the burnt sacrifice, Iehu sayd to the men of warre and to the captaynes: Go in, and slay them, let none come out. And they smote them with the edge of the sword: And the men of warre & the captaynes cast them out, & went to the citie of the temple of Baal, 26And set the images out of the temple of Baal, and burnt them. 27And they brake the image of Baal, and brake the house of Baal, & made a draft house of it vnto this day. Jehu Repeats Jeroboam’s Sins 28And so Iehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
29But from the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat whiche made Israel to sinne, Iehu departed not from them
32In those dayes the Lorde began to cut Israel short, and Hazael smote them in all the coastes of Israel,
33From Iordane eastward, euen all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Rubenites, and them that were of Manasses, from Aroer (which is by the riuer Arnon) euen Gilead and Basan. Jehoahaz Succeeds Jehu in Israel 34The rest of the wordes that concerne Iehu, and al that he did, & al his power, are they not written in the booke of the cronicles of the kinges of Israel?
35And Iehu slept with his fathers, and they buryed him in Samaria, & Iehoahas his sonne raigned in his steade.
36And the time that Iehu raigned vpon Israel in Samaria, is twentie & eyght yeres. |
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