2 Kings 10:24-34

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.

Jehu rules Israel

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.
34 The rest of Jehu's deeds, all that he accomplished, and all his powerful acts, aren't they written in the official records of Israel's kings?

2 Kings 10:24-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 10

This chapter gives a further account of the destruction of the house of Ahab by Jehu, or his orders, even of all his sons and relations, 2Ki 10:1-11, and also of the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, 2Ki 10:12-14, of his taking up Jehonadab the son of Rechab into his chariot, to be a witness of his zeal for the Lord, 2Ki 10:15-17, and of his gathering together the prophets, priests, and worshippers of Baal, and slaying them, 2Ki 10:18-25 and of his extirpation of the idolatry of Baal, 2Ki 10:26-28, nevertheless he continued the worship of the calves, 2Ki 10:29-31 wherefore Israel was distressed by the king of Syria, 2Ki 10:32,33 and the chapter is concluded with the reign and death of Jehu, 2Ki 10:34,35.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. LXX, Syr, Vulg; MT pillars
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