Jehu Is Anointed King of Israel

9 Meanwhile the prophet Elisha called one of the young prophets and said to him, “Get ready and go to Ramoth in Gilead. Take this jar of olive oil with you, ² and when you get there look for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi. Take him to a private room away from his companions, ³ pour this olive oil on his head, and say, ‘The Lord proclaims that he anoints you king of Israel.’ Then leave there as fast as you can.”

⁴ So the young prophet went to Ramoth, ⁵ where he found the army officers in a conference. He said, “Sir, I have a message for you.”

Jehu asked, “Which one of us are you speaking to?”

“To you, sir,” he replied. ^6 (A)Then the two of them went indoors, and the young prophet poured the olive oil on Jehu's head and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims: ‘I anoint you king of my people Israel. ⁷ You are to kill your master the king, that son of Ahab, so that I may punish Jezebel for murdering my prophets and my other servants. ⁸ All of Ahab's family and descendants are to die; I will get rid of every male in his family, young and old alike. ⁹ I will treat his family as I did the families of King Jeroboam of Israel and of King Baasha of Israel. ^10 (B)Jezebel will not be buried; her body will be eaten by dogs in the territory of Jezreel.’” After saying this, the young prophet left the room and fled.

¹¹ Jehu went back to his fellow officers, who asked him, “Is everything all right? What did that crazy fellow want with you?”

“You know what he wanted,” Jehu answered.

¹² “No we don't!” they replied. “Tell us what he said!”

“He told me that the Lord proclaims: ‘I anoint you king of Israel.’”

¹³ At once Jehu's fellow officers spread their cloaks at the top of the steps for Jehu to stand on, blew trumpets, and shouted, “Jehu is king!”

King Joram of Israel Is Killed

^14-15 Then Jehu plotted against King Joram, who was in Jezreel, where he had gone to recover from the wounds which he had received in the battle at Ramoth against King Hazael of Syria. So Jehu said to his fellow officers, “If you are with me, make sure that no one slips out of Ramoth to go and warn the people in Jezreel.” ¹⁶ Then he got into his chariot and set off for Jezreel. Joram had still not recovered, and King Ahaziah of Judah was there, visiting him.

¹⁷ A guard on duty in the watchtower at Jezreel saw Jehu and his men approaching. “I see some men riding up!” he called out.

Joram replied, “Send a rider to find out if they are friends or enemies.”

¹⁸ The messenger rode out to Jehu and said to him, “The king wants to know if you come as a friend.”

“That's none of your business!” Jehu answered. “Fall in behind me.”

The guard on the watchtower reported that the messenger had reached the group but was not returning. ¹⁹ Another messenger was sent out, who asked Jehu the same question. Again Jehu answered, “That's none of your business! Fall in behind me.”

²⁰ Once more the guard reported that the messenger had reached the group but was not returning. And he added, “The leader of the group is driving his chariot like a madman, just like Jehu!”

²¹ “Get my chariot ready,” King Joram ordered. It was done, and he and King Ahaziah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the field which had belonged to Naboth. ²² “Are you coming in peace?” Joram asked him.

“How can there be peace,” Jehu answered, “when we still have all the witchcraft and idolatry that your mother Jezebel started?”

²³ “It's treason, Ahaziah!” Joram cried out, as he turned his chariot around and fled. ²⁴ Jehu drew his bow, and with all his strength shot an arrow that struck Joram in the back and pierced his heart. Joram fell dead in his chariot, ²⁵ and Jehu said to his aide Bidkar, “Get his body and throw it in the field that belonged to Naboth. Remember that when you and I were riding together behind King Joram's father Ahab, the Lord spoke these words against Ahab: ^26 (C)‘I saw the murder of Naboth and his sons yesterday. And I promise that I will punish you here in this same field.’ So take Joram's body,” Jehu ordered his aide, “and throw it in the field that belonged to Naboth, so as to fulfill the Lord's promise.”

King Ahaziah of Judah Is Killed

²⁷ King Ahaziah saw what happened, so he fled in his chariot toward the town of Beth Haggan, pursued by Jehu. “Kill him too!” Jehu ordered his men, and they wounded him^[a] as he drove his chariot on the road up to Gur, near the town of Ibleam. But he managed to keep on going until he reached the city of Megiddo, where he died. ²⁸ His officials took his body back to Jerusalem in a chariot and buried him in the royal tombs in David's City.

²⁹ Ahaziah had become king of Judah in the eleventh year that Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel.

Queen Jezebel Is Killed

³⁰ Jehu arrived in Jezreel. Jezebel, having heard what had happened, put on eye shadow, arranged her hair, and stood looking down at the street from a window in the palace. ³¹ As Jehu came through the gate, she called out, “You Zimri!^[b] You assassin! Why are you here?”

³² Jehu looked up and shouted, “Who is on my side?” Two or three palace officials looked down at him from a window, ³³ and Jehu said to them, “Throw her down!” They threw her down, and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses. Jehu drove his horses and chariot over her body, ³⁴ entered the palace, and had a meal. Only then did he say, “Take that cursed woman and bury her; after all, she is a king's daughter.” ³⁵ But the men who went out to bury her found nothing except her skull and the bones of her hands and feet. ^36 (D)When they reported this to Jehu, he said, “This is what the Lord said would happen, when he spoke through his servant Elijah: ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel's body in the territory of Jezreel. ³⁷ Her remains will be scattered there like dung, so that no one will be able to identify them.’”

The Descendants of Ahab Are Killed

10 There were seventy descendants of King Ahab living in the city of Samaria. Jehu wrote a letter and sent copies to the rulers of the city,^[c] to the leading citizens, and to the guardians of Ahab's descendants. The letter read: ² “You are in charge of the king's descendants, and you have at your disposal chariots, horses, weapons, and fortified cities. So then, as soon as you receive this letter, ³ you are to choose the best qualified of the king's descendants, make him king, and fight to defend him.”

⁴ The rulers of Samaria were terrified. “How can we oppose Jehu,” they said, “when neither King Joram nor King Ahaziah could?” ⁵ So the officer in charge of the palace and the official in charge of the city, together with the leading citizens and the guardians, sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants, and we are ready to do anything you say. But we will not make anyone king; do whatever you think best.”

⁶ Jehu wrote them another letter: “If you are with me and are ready to follow my orders, bring the heads of King Ahab's descendants to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.”

The seventy descendants of King Ahab were under the care of the leading citizens of Samaria, who were bringing them up. ⁷ When Jehu's letter was received, the leaders of Samaria killed all seventy of Ahab's descendants, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

⁸ When Jehu was told that the heads of Ahab's descendants had been brought, he ordered them to be piled up in two heaps at the city gate and to be left there until the following morning. ⁹ In the morning he went out to the gate and said to the people who were there, “I was the one who plotted against King Joram and killed him; you are not responsible for that. But who killed all these? ¹⁰ This proves that everything that the Lord said about the descendants of Ahab will come true. The Lord has done what he promised through his prophet Elijah.” ^11 (E)Then Jehu put to death all the other relatives of Ahab living in Jezreel, and all his officers, close friends, and priests; not one of them was left alive.

The Relatives of King Ahaziah Are Killed

¹² Jehu left Jezreel to go to Samaria. On the way, at a place called “Shepherds' Camp,” ¹³ he met some relatives of the late King Ahaziah of Judah and asked them, “Who are you?”

“Ahaziah's relatives,” they answered. “We are going to Jezreel to pay our respects to the children of Queen Jezebel and to the rest of the royal family.” ¹⁴ Jehu ordered his men, “Take them alive!” They seized them, and he put them to death near a pit there. There were forty-two people in all, and not one of them was left alive.

All Remaining Relatives of Ahab Are Killed

¹⁵ Jehu started out again, and on his way he was met by Jonadab son of Rechab. Jehu greeted him and said, “You and I think alike. Will you support me?”

“I will,” Jonadab answered.

“Give me your hand, then,” Jehu replied. They clasped hands, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot, ¹⁶ saying, “Come with me and see for yourself how devoted I am to the Lord.” And they rode on together to Samaria. ¹⁷ When they arrived there, Jehu killed all of Ahab's relatives, not sparing even one. This is what the Lord had told Elijah would happen.

The Worshipers of Baal Are Killed

¹⁸ Jehu called the people of Samaria together and said, “King Ahab served the god Baal a little, but I will serve him much more. ¹⁹ Call together all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers, and all his priests. No one is excused; I am going to offer a great sacrifice to Baal, and whoever is not present will be put to death.” (This was a trick on the part of Jehu by which he meant to kill all the worshipers of Baal.) ²⁰ Then Jehu ordered, “Proclaim a day of worship in honor of Baal!” The proclamation was made, ²¹ and Jehu sent word throughout all the land of Israel. All who worshiped Baal came; not one of them failed to come. They all went into the temple of Baal, filling it from one end to the other. ²² Then Jehu ordered the priest in charge of the sacred robes to bring the robes out and give them to the worshipers. ²³ After that, Jehu himself went into the temple with Jonadab son of Rechab and said to the people there, “Make sure that only worshipers of Baal are present and that no worshiper of the Lord has come in.” ²⁴ Then he and Jonadab went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to Baal. He had stationed eighty men outside the temple and had instructed them: “You are to kill all these people; anyone who lets one of them escape will pay for it with his life!”

²⁵ As soon as Jehu had presented the offerings, he said to the guards and officers, “Go in and kill them all; don't let anyone escape!” They went in with drawn swords, killed them all, and dragged the bodies outside. Then they went on into the inner sanctuary of the temple, ²⁶ brought out the sacred pillar that was there, and burned it. ²⁷ So they destroyed the sacred pillar and the temple, and turned the temple into a latrine—which it still is today.

²⁸ That was how Jehu wiped out the worship of Baal in Israel. ^29 (F)But he imitated the sin of King Jeroboam, who led Israel into the sin of worshiping the gold bull-calves he set up in Bethel and in Dan. ³⁰ The Lord said to Jehu, “You have done to Ahab's descendants everything I wanted you to do. So I promise you that your descendants, down to the fourth generation, will be kings of Israel.” ³¹ But Jehu did not obey with all his heart the Law of the Lord, the God of Israel; instead, he followed the example of Jeroboam, who led Israel into sin.

The Death of Jehu

³² At that time the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel's territory. King Hazael of Syria conquered all the Israelite territory ³³ east of the Jordan, as far south as the town of Aroer on the Arnon River—this included the territories of Gilead and Bashan, where the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and East Manasseh lived.

³⁴ Everything else that Jehu did, including his brave deeds, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

³⁵ He died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz succeeded him as king. ³⁶ Jehu had ruled in Samaria as king of Israel for twenty-eight years.