Jehu removes false prophets
18 Then Jehu called all the people to come together. He said to them, ‘Ahab served Baal, but he did not do it very well. But I, Jehu, will serve Baal much better! 19 So tell all the prophets who serve Baal to come here, as well as all Baal's servants and his priests. Make sure that they all come. I want to offer a great sacrifice to Baal. If any of them does not come, I will punish him with death.’
But Jehu was deceiving them. He wanted to kill all Baal's servants. 20 He gave a command, ‘Prepare a special day when we can all worship Baal.’ So Jehu's servants told everybody about it.
21 Jehu sent a notice to everyone in Israel. All the servants of Baal came to the meeting. There was nobody who did not come. They all went into the temple of Baal, so that it was completely full of people. 22 Then Jehu said to the man who took care of the special clothes, ‘Bring out the robes for the servants of Baal to wear.’ So the man brought out the robes for them. 23 Then Jehu and Rekab's son Jehonadab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, ‘Look around carefully. Be sure that there are no servants of the Lord here with you. There must only be servants of Baal here.’ 24 So they went into the temple to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. But Jehu had put 80 of his men outside the temple. He had said to them, ‘Do not let any of these men escape. If you let anyone escape, I will punish you with death.’
25 When Jehu had finished offering the sacrifices, he said to the guards and the soldiers, ‘Go into the temple and kill all Baal's servants. Do not let any of them escape.’ So the guards and soldiers used their swords to cut all the people down. They threw the dead bodies out of the temple. Then they went into the inside room of the temple. 26 They took out the stones from the house of Baal and they destroyed them. 27 They broke the special stone pillar of Baal and they destroyed the temple. People still use it as a toilet, even today!
28 That is how Jehu stopped people from worshipping Baal in Israel. 29 But Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Nebat's son, Jeroboam. Jeroboam had caused Israel to worship images of calves. There were still gold calves at Bethel and Dan. 30 The Lord said to Jehu, ‘You have done well. You have done the things that I say are right. You have punished Ahab's family in the way that I wanted. So your descendants will be kings of Israel for four generations.’ 31 But Jehu was not careful to obey completely the law of the Lord, Israel's God. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam which he had caused Israel to do.
10:30‘for four generations’ means Jehu's son, Jehu's grandson, his grandson's son and his grandson's grandson.
32 In those days, the Lord began to make Israel's land smaller. King Hazael of Syria could attack the Israelites anywhere in their land 33 east of the Jordan River. He took from them all the land of Gilead. That included the land that belonged to the tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh. Hazael took the land all the way from Aroer, along the Arnon Valley to Gilead and Bashan.
34 The other things that happened while Jehu was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jehu did. 35 Jehu died and they buried him with his ancestors in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz became king after him. 36 Jehu ruled over Israel as king in Samaria for 28 years.
