Jehu Anointed King of Israel

9 Meanwhile, Elisha the prophet had summoned a member of the group of prophets. “Get ready to travel,”^[a] he told him, “and take this flask of olive oil with you. Go to Ramoth-gilead, ² and find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Call him into a private room away from his friends, ³ and pour the oil over his head. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you to be the king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run for your life!”

⁴ So the young prophet did as he was told and went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵ When he arrived there, he found Jehu sitting around with the other army officers. “I have a message for you, Commander,” he said.

“For which one of us?” Jehu asked.

“For you, Commander,” he replied.

⁶ So Jehu left the others and went into the house. Then the young prophet poured the oil over Jehu’s head and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anoint you king over the Lord’s people, Israel. ⁷ You are to destroy the family of Ahab, your master. In this way, I will avenge the murder of my prophets and all the Lord’s servants who were killed by Jezebel. ⁸ The entire family of Ahab must be wiped out. I will destroy every one of his male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel. ⁹ I will destroy the family of Ahab as I destroyed the families of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ Dogs will eat Ahab’s wife Jezebel at the plot of land in Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.

¹¹ Jehu went back to his fellow officers, and one of them asked him, “What did that madman want? Is everything all right?”

“You know how a man like that babbles on,” Jehu replied.

¹² “You’re hiding something,” they said. “Tell us.”

So Jehu told them, “He said to me, ‘This is what the Lord says: I have anointed you to be king over Israel.’”

¹³ Then they quickly spread out their cloaks on the bare steps and blew the ram’s horn, shouting, “Jehu is king!”