2 Kings 10:9

he went out, and stood At the gate, the place of concourse, where the people usually gathered, and whither recent events would bring them in full number. Jehu in this way began to play the king.

Yebe righteous He is about to make an appeal to the people. He therefore puts them first of all in a good frame of mind towards himself, by acknowledging them to be fit to be arbiters in the case which he is going to put before them. He admits at once that he is as Jezebel had called him -the murderer of his master" (2 Kings 9:31), but before them they see the heads of the whole of Ahab's sons, slain by the rulers of Samaria. -Who smote all these?" he asks, feeling confident that his act will fade into insignificance before the enormity of their greater butchery. And he was not disappointed.

who slew[R.V. smote] all these? The verb is not the same as in the previous clause, and the same change is needed in verses 11 and 17.