2 Kings 10:19-25

10:19 So now, bring to me all the prophets of Baal, as well as all his servants and priests.¹ None of them must be absent, for I am offering a great sacrifice to Baal. Any of them who fail to appear will lose their lives.” But Jehu was tricking them² so he could destroy the servants of Baal. 10:20 Then Jehu ordered, “Make arrangements for³ a celebration for Baal.” So they announced it. 10:21 Jehu sent invitations throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; not one was absent. They arrived at the temple of Baal and filled it up from end to end.⁴ 10:22 Jehu ordered the one who was in charge of the wardrobe,⁵ “Bring out robes for all the servants of Baal.” So he brought out robes for them. 10:23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went to the temple of Baal. Jehu⁶ said to the servants of Baal, “Make sure there are no servants of the Lord here with you; there must be only servants of Baal.”⁷ 10:24 They went inside to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside. He had told them, “If any of the men inside get away, you will pay with your lives!”⁸

10:25 When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard⁹ and officers, “Come in and strike them down! Don’t let any escape!” So the royal guard and officers struck them down with the sword and left their bodies lying there.¹⁰ Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal.¹¹

¹tn Heb “and now, all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests summon to me.”

²tn Heb “acted with deception [or, ‘trickery’].”

³tn Heb “set apart”; or “observe as holy.”

⁴tn Heb “and the house of Baal was filled mouth to mouth.”

⁵tn Heb “and he said to the one who was over the wardrobe.”

⁶tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehu) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷tn Heb “Search carefully and observe so that there are not here with you any servants of the Lord, only the servants of Baal.”

⁸tn Heb “The man who escapes from the men whom I am bringing into your hands, [it will be] his life in place of his life.”

⁹tn Heb “runners.”

¹⁰tn Heb “and they threw.” No object appears. According to M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 116), this is an idiom for leaving a corpse unburied.

¹¹tn Heb “and they came to the city of the house of Baal.” It seems unlikely that a literal city is meant. Some emend עִיר (’ir), “city,” to דְּבִיר (dÿvir) “holy place,” or suggest that עִיר is due to dittography of the immediately preceding עַד (’ad) “to.” Perhaps עִיר is here a technical term meaning “fortress” or, more likely, “inner room.”