of Isr. Iehu.

1   And Achab had seuentie sonnes in Samaria: Iehu therfore wrote letters, and sent into Samaria to the chiefe of the citie, and to the ancientes, and to them that brought vp Achabs children, saying:

2   As sowne as you shal receiue these letters, ye that haue your maisters sonnes, and chariotes, and horses, and fensed cities, and armour,

3   choose the better, and him that shal please you of your maisters sonnes, and set him vpon his fathers throne, and fight for the house of your lord.

4   They were sore afrayd, and sayd: Behold two kinges could not stand before him, and how shal we be able to resist?

5   The ouerseers therfore of the house, and the rulers of the citie, and the ancientes, and the tutors sent to Iehu, saying: We are thy seruantes, whatsoeuer thou shalt command we wil doe, neither wil we make vs a king: Doe thou whatsoeuer pleaseth thee.

6   And he wrote letters to them agayne, the second tyme, saying: If you be mine, and obey me, take the heades of your maisters sonnes, and come to me this verie houre to morow into Iezrahel. Moreouer the kinges sonnes, seuentie men were brought vp with the chiefe of the citie.

7   And when the letters were come to them, they tooke the kinges sonnes, and slew seuentie men, and put their heades in baskets, and sent them to him into Iezrahel.

8   And a messenger came, & told him, saying: They haue brought the heades of the kinges sonnes. Who answered: Lay them in two heapes by the entrance of the gate vntil morning.

9   And when it was light, he went forth, and standing sayd to al the people: You are iust: If I haue conspired agaynst my maister, and haue slayne him, who hath strooken al these?

10   See therfore now there hath not fallen of the wordes of our Lord on the ground, which our Lord spake vpon the house of Achab, and our Lord hath done that which he spake in the hand of his seruant Elias.

11   Iehu therfore smote al that were leaft of the house of Achab in Iezrahel, and al his nobles, and familiars, and priestes, til there remayned no reliques of him.

12   And he arose, and came into Samaria: and when he was come to the cabbin of the shepeheardes in the way,

13   he found the brethren of Ochozias the king of Iuda, and he sayd to them: What are you? Who answered: We are the brethren of Ochozias, and are come downe to salute the kinges sonnes, and the queenes sonnes.

14   Who sayd: Take them aliue. Whom when they had taken aliue, they killed them in a cesterne beside

Of Israel Iehu. the cabbin, two and fourtie men, and he leaft not any of them.

15   And when he was gone thence, he found ^note Ionadab the sonne of Rechab coming to meete him, and he blessed him. And he sayd to him: Is thy hart right as my hart with thy hart? And Ionadab sayd: It is. If it be so, quoth he, geue me thy hand. Who gaue him his hand. But he lifted him vp to him into the chariote,

16   and sayd him: Come with me, and see my zele for our Lord. And being sette in his chariote,

17   he brought him into Samaria. And he stroke al that were leaft of Achab in Samaria, til there was not one, according to the word of our Lord, which he spake by Elias.

18   Iehu therfore assembled al the people, and sayd to them: Achab worshipped Baal a litle, but ^note I wil worshipe him more.

19   Now therfore cal to me al the prophetes of Baal, and al his seruantes, and al his priestes: let there be none but that he come, for I haue a great sacrifice to Baal: He that shal be wanting shal not liue. Moreouer Iehu did this craftely, that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

20   And he sayd: Sanctifie a solemne day to Baal. And he called

21   and sent into al the borders of Israel, and al the seruantes of Baal came: there was leaft not one that came not. And they entered into the temple of Baal: and the house of Baal was filled, from one end to the other.

22   And he sayd to them that were ouer the garmentes: Bring forth garmentes for al the seruantes of Baal. And they brought them forth garmentes.

23   And Iehu going in, and Ionadab the sonne of Rechab into the temple of Baal, sayd to the worshippers of Baal: Search, and see lest perhaps there be any with you of the seruantes of the Lord, but that there be the seruantes of Baal onlie.

24   They therfore went in to make victimes and holocaustes: but Iehu had prepared him without fourescore men, and sayd to them: Whosoeuer shal escape of these men, whom I wil bring into your handes, his life shal be for the life of him.

25   And it came to passe, when the holocauste was ended, Iehu commanded his souldiars and captaynes: Goe in, and strike them, let none escape. And the souldiars and captaynes stroke them in the edge of the sword, and cast them forth: and they went into the citie of the temple of Baal,

26   and brought forth the statue out of Baals temple, and burnt it,

27   and brake it in peeces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal, and made a iakes for it vntil this day.

28   Iehu therfore destroyed Baal out of Israel:

Of Isr. Iehu. Ioachaz.

29   but yet from the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne, he departed not, neither forsooke he the golden calues, that were in Bethel, and Dan.

30   And our Lord sayd to Iehu: ^note Because thou hast diligently done that which was right, and that pleased in mine eies, and hast done al thinges that were in my hart, against the house of Achab: thy children shal sitte vpon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.

31   Moreouer Iehu obserued not to walke in the law of our Lord the God of Israel in al his hart: for he departed not from the sinnes of Ieroboam, who had made Israel to sinne.

32   In those daies our Lord began to be wearie of Israel: and Hazael smote them in al the costes of Israel,

33   from Iordan agaynst the East quarter, al the land of Galaad, and Gad, and Ruben, and Manasses, from Aroer, which is vpon the Torrent Arnon, and Galaad, and Basan.

34   But the rest of the wordes of Iehu, & al that he did, and his strength, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kinges of Israel?

35   And Iehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria: and Ioachaz his sonne reigned for him.

36   And the dayes which Iehu reigned ouer Israel, be eight and twentie yeares in Samaria.

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