5. And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the guardians of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants, and will do all that you shall bid us; we will not make any king: do you that which is good in your eyes.
6. Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If you are mine, and if you will hearken unto my voice, take you the heads of the men, your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.
7. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.
8. And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.
9. And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, You are righteous: indeed, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?
10. Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD has done that which he spoke by his servant Elijah.
11. So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his close associates, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
12. And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way,
13. Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen.
14. And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men: neither left he any of them.
15. And when he was departed there, He met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he greeted him, and said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
16. And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they had him ride in his chariot.