2 Kings 10:9

9 And it came to pass in the morning that he went out and stood, and said to all the people, "Ye are righteous. Behold, I conspired against my master and slew him, but who slew all these?

2 Kings 10:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 10:9

And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and
stood, and said to all the people
Who were gathered together to this shocking sight, or on the above accounts:

ye be righteous;
having had no concern in taking off the heads of those men:

behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him;
I own it, and some may blame me for it, and charge me with treason and murder:

but who slew all these?
not he, but the chief men of Samaria, and therefore must be more guilty than he, having shed the blood of so many persons, who had not offended against God and man to so great a degree as Joram; this he said to lessen his own sin, and wipe off the reproach of it, that his character might appear fairer in the eyes of the people, concealing, at the same time, his orders for the slaying of them.

2 Kings 10:9 In-Context

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 him them 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 ye 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, "Ye are righteous. Behold, 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 hath 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 kinsfolk and his priests, until he left him none remaining.