And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and killed seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him in Jezreel.
And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, You be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?
His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed by God;) that your land be not defiled, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.