The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ Jehu (son of Jehoshaphat, Nimshi’s son) began plotting against Joram. The entire community of Israel with Joram was defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael (Aram’s king); but if you remember, ¹⁵ King Joram had gone to Jezreel to wait for his injuries to heal—the injuries the Arameans had given him while he was fighting against Aram’s king, Hazael.

¹⁶ Jehu took a chariot to Jezreel, where Joram was resting. As you may recall, Ahaziah (Judah’s king) was there visiting Joram. ¹⁷ The watchman was up on the watchtower in Jezreel, and he saw Jehu and his followers approaching.

¹⁸ A horseman went out and spoke to Jehu and his followers.

The watchman immediately went and updated Joram about the situation.

¹⁹ Joram summoned another horseman.

²⁰ The watchman then went and updated Joram about the situation again.

So they prepared his chariot; and he and Ahaziah (Judah’s king) went out together, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu’s caravan on Naboth the Jezreelite’s land.

²³ Joram quickly realized that Jehu intended to attack, so he immediately turned his chariot around, quickly rode away, and yelled out to Ahaziah.

²⁴ But Jehu pulled his bowstring back as far as he could. He released an arrow that struck Joram between his shoulder blades, piercing straight through his heart. Joram fell over in his chariot.

²⁷ Ahaziah (Judah’s king) witnessed all of this from a distance, and he rode away by the path to Beth-haggan. Jehu went after him.

They shot him at Ibleam as he was driving up toward Gur. But he did not die there. He continued on to Megiddo, where he took his last breath.

²⁸ Ahaziah’s servants transported him to Jerusalem in a chariot. They buried him with his fathers in the city of David. ²⁹ During the 11th year of Joram (Ahab’s son), Ahaziah inherited the throne over Judah.

³⁰ When Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel was informed of his arrival. She put on her best make-up and fixed her hair, and she stuck her head out her window. ³¹ While Jehu rode through the gate, she taunted him.

A few officers, who were eunuchs, peered down at him.

They did as he instructed and threw her out the window. Her blood splattered everywhere—on the ground, on the wall, on the horses. He rode his horse over her and pounded her into the ground.

³⁴ He then went inside to eat and drink. After he had his fill, he gave instructions.

³⁵ They went out to clean up the mess and bury her body; but when they got there, they found a most haunting sight. All that remained was her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ They went back and told Jehu this news, and he explained it to them.

10 Ahab had many sons in Samaria—70 in all. This is how Jehu got the best of them:

Jehu wrote many letters to Samaria—to the leaders in Jezreel, the elders, as well as the caretakers of Ahab’s children.

⁴ The leaders of Jezreel became immensely afraid because of Jehu’s letter.

⁵ All the leading citizens of Jezreel—leader of the city, house managers, elders, and the children’s guardians—sent a letter back to Jehu.

All 70 of Ahab’s sons lived with the chief men in the city, who were their guardians. ⁷ After the leaders of Jezreel read Jehu’s second letter, they beheaded all 70 of Ahab’s sons. It was a horrific slaughter! They then placed all the heads in baskets and transported the blood-drenched baskets to Jezreel, so that Jehu would have proof of their obedience to him.

⁹ Dawn arrived, and Jehu addressed everyone.

¹¹ Jehu slaughtered everyone who belonged to Ahab’s household in Jezreel. He slaughtered all who knew Ahab—the mighty men of the city, the priests, and even mere acquaintances. There was not a single person left alive who knew Ahab.

¹² For example, on his way to Samaria, when Jehu was with the shepherds at Beth-eked, ¹³ he met some relatives of Ahaziah, king of Judah.

They seized Ahaziah’s relatives, and they slaughtered them at the ditch of Beth-eked. There were 42 men slaughtered that day. Not a single man was left alive. No mercy was shown.

¹⁵ Jehu left in his chariot, and he was met by Jehonadab (Rechab’s son).

Jehonadab offered his hand to Jehu, and Jehu lifted him up into the chariot.

So the two rode off together in Jehu’s chariot. ¹⁷ When they arrived in Samaria, Jehu slaughtered every person who was at all connected to Ahab. Finally every remnant of Ahab was erased from the earth. This all happened exactly as the Eternal said it would when He gave His message through Elijah.

¹⁸ For Jehu’s next ingenious move, he assembled everyone.

Jehu only said this sly thing so that he might slaughter Baal’s servants all in one attack.

They did as they were told.

²¹ Jehu spread the word of this sacred gathering throughout all of Israel. Every single one of Baal’s worshipers in the entire land attended. Everyone assembled inside the temple of Baal, and it was packed from wall to wall. Jehu continued pretending he was devoted to Baal. ²² He gave instructions to the wardrobe manager.

The wardrobe manager did as Jehu instructed and brought out the proper clothing to everyone.

²³ Jehu was accompanied by Jehonadab (Rechab’s son) as he entered the temple of Baal. Jehu gave a strict command to Baal’s worshipers.

²⁴ All of Baal’s servants began to give offerings and sacrifice burnt offerings to Baal. Outside the temple of Baal, Jehu had stationed 80 soldiers. He gave them strict instructions.

²⁵ Jehu offered a burnt offering for show; and after he finished with it, he gave the command to the soldiers and their officers.

The soldiers slaughtered every one of Baal’s servants with the sword—one by one. After the massacre was over, the soldiers and the officers then tossed the corpses outside of Baal’s temple. When they had removed all of the corpses, they entered the inner chamber. ²⁶ There they tore down and removed the sacred pillars from this pagan temple, and they set them on fire. ²⁷ They tore down Baal’s sacred pillar and proceeded to tear down the rest of Baal’s temple. Ever since then, that place has been designated as a latrine, even to this day.

²⁸ And that is the story of how Jehu exterminated Baal worship from the community of Israel. ²⁹ But Jehu emulated the wickedness of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son)—causing the Israelites to live sinful lives. He did not turn away from the golden calves in Bethel and in Dan.

³¹ After all that Jehu had done, and even after the Lord had honored him, he fell from the higher path, from the ways of the Eternal. His whole heart did not belong to Israel’s God. He walked the wicked path of Jeroboam, causing the Israelites to live sinful lives.

17 After leaving Philippi and passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Paul and Silas came to Thessalonica. There was a Jewish synagogue there. ^2-3 As he had done in other cities, Paul attended the synagogue and presented arguments, based on the Hebrew Scriptures, that the Anointed had to suffer and rise from the dead.

He came back the next two Sabbaths—repeating the same pattern. ⁴ Some of the ethnically Jewish people from the synagogue were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas. Even more devout Greeks who had affiliated with Judaism came to believe—along with quite a few of the city’s leading women. ^5-6 Seeing this movement growing, the unconvinced Jewish people became protective and angry. They found some ruffians hanging out in the marketplaces and convinced them to help start a riot. Soon a mob formed, and the whole city was seething with tension. The mob was going street by street, looking for Paul and Silas—who were nowhere to be found. Frustrated, when the mob came to the house of a man named Jason, now known as a believer, they grabbed him and some other believers they found there and dragged them to the city officials.

⁸ Of course, this disturbed the crowd at large and the city officials especially, ⁹ so they demanded bail from Jason and the others before releasing them.

¹⁰ The believers waited until dark and then sent Paul and Silas off to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the synagogue.

¹¹ The Jewish people here were more receptive than they had been in Thessalonica. They warmly and enthusiastically welcomed the message and then, day by day, would check for themselves to see if what they heard from Paul and Silas was truly in harmony with the Hebrew Scriptures. ¹² Many of them were convinced, and the new believers included—as in Thessalonica—quite a few of the city’s leading Greek women and important men also. ¹³ Reports got back to Thessalonica that Paul and Silas were now spreading God’s message in Berea; the Jewish people who had incited the riot in Thessalonica quickly came to Berea to do the same once again. ^14-15 The believers sent Paul away. A small group escorted him, first to the coast, and then all the way to Athens. Silas and Timothy, however, remained in Berea. Later they received instructions from Paul to join him in Athens as soon as possible.

¹⁶ So Paul found himself alone for some time in Athens. He would walk through the city, feeling deeply frustrated about the abundance of idols there. ¹⁷ As in the previous cities, he went to the synagogue. Once again, he engaged in debate about Jesus with both ethnic Jews and devout Greek-born converts to Judaism. He would even wander around in the marketplace, speaking with anyone he happened to meet. ¹⁸ Eventually he got into a debate with some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Some were dismissive from the start.

They said this because of what Paul had been preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.

^19-21 This stirred their curiosity, because the favorite pastime of Athenians (including foreigners who had settled there) was conversation about new and unusual ideas. So they brought him to the rock outcropping known as the Areopagus, where Athens’ intellectuals regularly gathered for debate, and they invited him to speak.

³² When they heard that last phrase about resurrection from the dead, some shook their heads and scoffed, but others were even more curious.

³³ Paul left at that point, ³⁴ but some people followed him and came to faith, including one from Areopagus named Dionysius, a prominent woman named Damaris, and others.

Psalm 144

A song of David.