Shearing-house

The shearing-house (Hebrew beth eked ha-ro'im, literally house of binding of the shepherds) is a location mentioned in 2 Kings 10:12–14 in connection with one of the most violent episodes of Jehu's revolution against the house of Ahab. Traveling toward Samaria after slaying King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah, Jehu encountered forty-two kinsmen of Ahaziah at a place called the shearing-house. When they identified themselves as relatives of the royal family going down to salute the sons of Ahab and the queen mother Jezebel, Jehu had them all seized and killed at the pit of the shearing-house.

The location likely designates a rendezvous point used by shepherds or a station where sheep were sheared and bound — a common feature of pastoral infrastructure in ancient Canaan. The Revised Version margin renders it simply Beth-eked of the shepherds, treating it as a place name. This slaughter completed the purge of Ahaziah's family alongside the broader destruction of the Ahab dynasty, fulfilling Elijah's prophecy (1 Kings 21:21).