Jehu Anointed King of Israel

9 The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company^(A) of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt,^(B) take this flask of olive oil^(C) with you and go to Ramoth Gilead.^(D)

⁶ Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil^(A) on Jehu’s head and declared, “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 house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge^(B) the blood of my servants^(C) the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel.^{(D) 8} The whole house^(E) of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male^(F) in Israel—slave or free.^{[a] 9} I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam^(G) son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha^(H) son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ As for Jezebel, dogs^(I) will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’” Then he opened the door and ran.

²⁴ Then Jehu drew his bow^(A) and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot.

Jezebel Killed

³⁰ Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she put on eye makeup,^(A) arranged her hair and looked out of a window. ³¹ As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, you Zimri,^(B) you murderer of your master?”^[a]

³² He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. ³³ “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.^(C)

Ahab’s Family Killed

10 Now there were in Samaria^(A) seventy sons^(B) of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel,^[a](C) to the elders and to the guardians^(D) of Ahab’s children. He said, ² “You have your master’s sons with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons. Now as soon as this letter reaches you, ³ choose the best and most worthy of your master’s sons and set him on his father’s throne. Then fight for your master’s house.”

⁴ But they were terrified and said, “If two kings could not resist him, how can we?”

⁵ So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants^(E) and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best.”

⁶ Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow.”

Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them. ⁷ When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy^(F) of them. They put their heads^(G) in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. ⁸ When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the princes.”

Then Jehu ordered, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

⁹ The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? ¹⁰ Know, then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what he announced^(H) through his servant Elijah.”^{(I) 11} So Jehu^(J) killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.^(K)

¹⁷ When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab’s family;^(A) he destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord spoken to Elijah.

³⁰ The Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”^(A)