Beginning
Jehu Anointed King of Israel
9 Then Elisha called one of the sons of the prophets and told him, “Hike up your garments for travel,[a] and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2 When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in and have him excuse himself from his associates[b] and bring him into an inner room. 3 Take the flask of oil, pour it out on his head, and say, ‘This is what the Lord says. I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee. Do not delay!”
4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 When he got there, he found the commanders of the army sitting together.
He said, “I have a message for you, commander.”
Then Jehu said, “For which of us?”
He answered, “For you, commander.”
6 So Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the servant poured the oil on his 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 will strike down the house of your master Ahab, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the Lord that was shed by Jezebel. 8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. In Israel I will cut off from Ahab those who urinate against the wall,[c] both bound and free.[d] 9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Ba’asha son of Ahijah. 10 The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot of ground in Jezre’el, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.
11 Then Jehu went out to the rest of the king’s officers. They said to him, “Is everything all right? Why did that madman come to you?”
He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.”
12 But they said, “That’s not true! Tell us!”
So he said, “He told me this and that, and then he said, ‘This is what the Lord says. I anoint you king over Israel.’”
13 Each man quickly took his cloak. Then they placed them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and said, “Jehu is king!”
Jehu Seizes the Throne
14 Then Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram and all Israel had been guarding Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram. 15 But King Joram[e] returned to Jezre’el to recover from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought against Hazael king of Aram.
Then Jehu said, “If you really want me to be king, don’t let any survivors get out of the city to go and report in Jezre’el.”
16 Then Jehu got in his chariot and went to Jezre’el, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see Joram. 17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezre’el, and he saw Jehu’s troops coming, so the watchman said, “I see a large group coming!”
Then Joram said, “Get a rider and send him to meet them and say, ‘Do you come in peace?’”
18 So a horseman[f] went to meet him. He said, “This is what the king says. Do you come in peace?”
Then Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
Then the watchmen said, “The messenger reached him but did not return.”
19 So he sent a second horseman. He came to them and said, “This is what the king says. Do you come in peace?”
Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
20 Then the watchman said, “He reached them, but he did not return. But the driving is like Jehu son of Nimshi’s driving. He drives like a madman.”
21 Then Joram said, “Hitch up a chariot!” Then they hitched up his chariot, and Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They reached him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth from Jezre’el.
22 When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Do you come in peace, Jehu?”
Jehu answered, “What peace can there be as long as so much of your mother Jezebel’s prostitution and witchcraft exists?”
23 Then Joram turned his chariot around and fled. He said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
24 Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between his shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. 25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick him up and throw him onto the plot of land that belonged to Naboth from Jezre’el. Remember that when you and I were riding side by side in chariots behind his father Ahab, the Lord made this pronouncement against him: 26 ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, the Lord declares, I will repay you on this plot of land, the Lord declares.’ So now, pick him up and throw him onto that plot of land according to the word of the Lord.”
27 Ahaziah king of Judah saw this and fled on the road toward Beth Hagan. But Jehu pursued him and said, “Shoot him too!” They shot him[g] in his chariot on the way up to Gur, that is Ibleam. Then he fled to Megiddo and died there. 28 His servants brought him in his chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb with his fathers in the City of David. 29 (It was in the eleventh year of Joram son of King Ahab that Ahaziah had become king over Judah.)
Jehu Kills Jezebel
30 Jehu went to Jezre’el. When Jezebel heard it, she put on eye make-up and arranged her hair. Then she looked down through a window. 31 When Jehu came into the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri, the killer of your master?”
32 He looked up to the window and said, “Who is with me? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down to him. 33 Then he said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. 34 Then he went inside and ate and drank. Then Jehu said, “See to that cursed woman and bury her, because she was a king’s daughter.”
35 But when they went to bury her, they did not find her, except for her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands. 36 So they came back and told him. Then Jehu said, “This is the word of the Lord which he spoke through his servant Elijah from Tishbe: On the plot of ground at Jezre’el, the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel. 37 Jezebel’s corpse will be like manure spread on the surface of the field at the plot of ground at Jezre’el, so they won’t be able to say, ‘This is Jezebel.’”
Jehu Kills Ahab’s Family
10 Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, so Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, that is, to the officials of Samaria,[h] the elders, and to the guardians appointed by Ahab, saying, 2 “Now, when this letter comes to you, since you have your master’s sons with you and you have chariots, horses, a fortified city, and weapons, 3 choose the best and most upright of your master’s sons and seat him on his father’s throne and fight for your master’s house.”
4 They were terrified and said, “Look, two kings could not stand before him, so how can we?”
5 Then the palace administrator, the ruler of the city, the elders, and the guardians sent word to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants. We will do everything you tell us. We will not make any man king. Do whatever is good in your eyes.”
6 Then Jehu wrote a second letter to them, saying, “If you are on my side and will obey me, then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me at this time tomorrow in Jezre’el.”
Now the king’s seventy sons were with the leaders of the city who were raising them. 7 When the letter came, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered all seventy of them. Then they put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezre’el. 8 When the messenger arrived, he said, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Jehu said, “Put them in two piles at the entrance to the gate until morning.”
9 When morning came, he went out and stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. Indeed I conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these? 10 Know, therefore, that nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke against the house of Ahab, will fail. For the Lord did what he said through his servant Elijah.”
11 Then Jehu killed everyone who remained from the house of Ahab in Jezre’el and all his important people, his close friends, and his priests, so that no survivor was left to him.
12 Then he set out toward Samaria. While he was on the way, at Beth Eked of the Shepherds, 13 Jehu met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah. He said, “Who are you?” They said, “We are Ahaziah’s relatives. We have come down to greet the king’s sons and the queen mother’s sons.”
14 Then he said, “Take them alive!” So they took them. Then they slaughtered them at the cistern of Beth Eked—forty-two men, and he did not let one survive.
15 Then he set out from there and met Jehonadab son of Recab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, “Is your heart as true to my heart as my heart is to yours?”
He said, “It is.”
Then Jehu said, “If it is, then give me your hand!” So Jehonadab gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot.
16 Then Jehu said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” So he had him ride with him in his chariot. 17 When he came to Samaria, he struck down everyone who was left to Ahab there. He wiped out Ahab completely, according to the word which the Lord had spoken to Elijah.
Jehu Slaughters the Prophets of Baal
18 Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little. Jehu will serve him a great deal. 19 But now, gather all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests! Let no one be missing because I am going to make a great sacrifice to Baal. No one who misses it will live.”
But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to exterminate the servants of Baal.
20 Then Jehu said, “Consecrate a festival for Baal,” and they proclaimed it.
21 Then Jehu sent word through all Israel, and all the servants of Baal came. Not a man was left who did not come. They came into the temple[i] of Baal so that the temple of Baal was filled from end to end. 22 Then he said to the person in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the servants of Baal.” So he brought out robes for them.
23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Recab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Make a careful search, and see to it that there are no servants of the Lord with you, but only servants of Baal.”
24 Then they went in to make sacrifices and whole burnt offerings. But Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and said, “If any man escapes from these men whom I am putting into your hands, it will be your life for his life.”
25 When he was finished offering the whole burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and to the officers, “Go strike them down! Don’t let anyone out!” So they struck them down with their swords, and the guards and the officers threw the bodies out. They then went into the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. 26 They brought the sacred memorial stones out from the temple of Baal and burned them. 27 They tore down the memorial stone for Baal and tore down the temple of Baal. They have used it for a latrine to this day. 28 In this way Jehu exterminated Baal worship from Israel.
Jehu Falters in His Faithfulness
29 But when it came to the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat caused Israel to commit, Jehu did not turn aside from following the golden calves which were in Bethel and in Dan. 30 But the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well by doing what is right in my eyes—you have done everything that was in my heart to the house of Ahab—four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”
31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins which Jeroboam caused Israel to commit.
32 In those days, the Lord began to break off pieces from Israel. Then Hazael attacked all the territory of Israel 33 east of the Jordan, all the land of Gilead, Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh, from Aroer, which is above the canyon of the Arnon, up to Gilead and Bashan.
34 As for the rest of Jehu’s acts and everything he did and all his mighty deeds, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Israel? 35 Jehu rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Then his son Jehoahaz became king in his place. 36 The time that Jehu ruled as king over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
Athaliah Seizes Control
11 When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she went into action and destroyed all the royal heirs.[j] 2 But Jehosheba, King Joram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah. She stole him away from among the king’s sons, who were to be killed. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom. He was kept hidden from Athaliah so that he was not killed. 3 He was kept hidden with her in the House of the Lord for six years while Athaliah was ruling over the land.
Jehoiada Makes Joash King
4 In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent a message and summoned the officers in charge of the units[k] of the Carians[l] and the guards to meet him at the House of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and had them swear an oath in the House of the Lord. Then he showed them the king’s son.
5 He commanded them, “This is how you will deploy: A third of you who are coming on duty on the Sabbath are to guard the palace of the king. 6 Another third will be stationed at the Sur Gate,[m] and the final third at the gate behind the guards who take turns protecting this temple.[n] 7 The two divisions of you who are going off duty on the Sabbath will protect the House of the Lord, together with the king.[o] 8 You will surround the king on all sides, every man with his weapons in his hand. Anyone who comes into the ranks will be put to death. You will accompany the king when he goes out and when he comes in.”
9 So the officers of the companies did just as Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each one took his men, those coming on duty on the Sabbath with those going off duty on the Sabbath, and they came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 The priest gave the officers in charge of the units the spears and shields which had belonged to King David and which were in the House of the Lord. 11 So the guards, each one with his weapon in his hand, stood around the king from the south side of the temple to the north side, near the altar of the temple. 12 Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son and set the crown on him and gave him the Testimony,[p] and they made him king. They anointed him and clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”
Athaliah’s Death
13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guards and the people, she went to them in the House of the Lord. 14 She looked, and there was the king standing beside the pillar according to the custom, and the officers and the trumpeters were in front of the king, and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”
15 Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the officers in charge of the units of the army, “Bring her out between the ranks! Anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword!”
Because the priest had said, “She is not to be killed in the House of the Lord,” 16 they laid hands on her as she was going through the passageway where the horses enter the king’s palace, and they killed her there.
17 Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people that they would be the Lord’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. 18 Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed its altar and its idols till they were dust. They also killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. Then the priest posted a watch over the House of the Lord.
19 Then he took the officers of the companies and the Carians and the guards and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the House of the Lord. They entered the king’s palace through the gate of the guards. Then he sat on the throne of the kings. 20 All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. Athaliah had been put to death with the sword in the king’s palace.
21 Joash was seven years old when he became king.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.