3 decide which is the best and the fittest of your master’s sons, place him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.”
4 They were overcome with fright and said, “If the two kings could not withstand him, how can we?”
5 So the master of the palace and the chief of the city, along with the elders and the guardians, sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants, and we will do everything you tell us. We will proclaim no one king; do whatever you think best.”
6 So Jehu wrote them a second letter: “If you are on my side and will obey me, bring along the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” (The seventy princes were in the care of prominent men of the city, who were rearing them.)
7 When the letter arrived, they took the princes and slew all seventy of them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.
8 A messenger came in and told him, “They have brought the heads of the princes.” He said, “Pile them in two heaps at the gate of the city until morning.”
9 In the morning he came outside, stood there, and said to all the people: “You are guiltless, for it was I who conspired against my lord and slew him. But who killed all these?