Common English Bible

2 Kings 10:21-33 Common English Bible (CEB)

21. Jehu then sent word throughout Israel. All Baal’s worshippers came. No one stayed away. They entered Baal’s temple until it was packed from one end to the other.

22. Then Jehu said to the person in charge of the vestments, "Bring out the special clothes for all Baal’s worshippers." So he brought out robes for them.

23. Then Jehu and Jehonadab, Rechab’s son, entered Baal’s temple. They said to Baal’s worshippers, "Make sure there are no worshippers of the Lord here with you. There should be only Baal worshippers."

24. Then they went in to offer sacrifices and entirely burned offerings. But Jehu had stationed eighty soldiers outside and told them, "I’m handing these people over to you. Whoever lets even one of them escape will pay for it with his life."

25. So when Jehu finished offering the entirely burned offering, he said to the guards and the officers, "Go in and kill everyone! Don’t let anyone escape!" They killed the Baal worshippers without mercy. The guards and the officers then disposed of the bodies and entered the inner part of Baal’s temple.

26. They brought the sacred pillar out of Baal’s temple and burned it.

27. They tore down Baal’s sacred pillar and destroyed Baal’s temple, turning it into a public restroom, which is what it still is today.

28. This is how Jehu eliminated Baal from Israel.

29. However, Jehu didn’t deviate from the sins that Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, had caused Israel to commit—specifically, the gold calves that were in Bethel and Dan.

30. The Lord said to Jehu: Because you’ve done well by doing what is right in my eyes, treating Ahab’s family as I wished, your descendants will sit on Israel’s throne for four generations.

31. But Jehu wasn’t careful to keep the Lord God of Israel’s Instruction with all his heart. He didn’t deviate from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.

32. In those days the Lord began to reduce Israel’s size. Hazael struck them down in every region of Israel:

33. from the Jordan River eastward, throughout the land of Gilead (Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh), and from Aroer by the Arnon Valley (that is, Gilead) and Bashan.