When it came to pass that the letter reached them, they took the king’s 70 sons and slaughtered them, put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
‘As surely as I have seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday—it is a declaration of Adonai—I will repay you on this property—it is a declaration of Adonai.’ So now pick him up and throw him onto the property, just as in the word of Adonai.”
Thus says Adonai: “Write this man childless, a man who will not prosper in his days. For no man of his seed will prosper, sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”
“Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Adonai and plead for the favor of Adonai, and then Adonai relented of the calamity that He had pronounced against them? So we may be committing great evil against our own souls.”
I will also punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the people of Judah all the calamity that I have pronounced against them—but they did not listen.”
So now, thus says Adonai, Elohim-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Why are you committing this great evil against your own souls? You cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child, from the midst of Judah, to leave yourself without a remnant.
Adonai has issued a command against you: no more will your name be spread. From the house of your gods I will cut off the idol and metal image. I will prepare your grave— for you have become worthless.
You are filled with disgrace rather than glory. Drink—you too—and be uncircumcised. The cup of Adonai’s right hand will surround you, and disgrace will come upon your glory.
As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be taken and hammered into sheets as a covering for the altar. For they were presented before Adonai, so they are holy. They are to be a sign to Bnei-Yisrael.”