Study Desk

When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, one said to him, "Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?" And he said to them, "You know [very well] the man and his talk."

Then they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it [as a cushion] under Jehu on the top of the [outside] stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, "Jehu is king!"

Then Joram said, "Harness [the chariot]." When they harnessed his chariot horses, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu and met him on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

So Joram reined [his chariot] around and fled, and he said to Ahaziah, "Treachery and betrayal, Ahaziah!"

But Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his shoulders; and the arrow went out through his heart and he sank down in his chariot.

Then Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, "Pick him up and throw him on the property of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for I remember when you and I were riding together after his father Ahab, that the LORD uttered this prophecy against him:

'I certainly saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday,' says the LORD, 'and I will repay you on this property,' says the LORD. Now then, pick him up and throw him into the property [of Naboth], in accordance with the word of the LORD."

Then his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave with his fathers in the City of David.

Then Jehu raised his face toward the window and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" And two or three officials looked down at him.

So they returned and told Jehu. Then he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'In the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.

select the best and most capable of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's [royal] house."

"Know then [without any doubt] that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the LORD has done what He said through His servant Elijah."

So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his familiar friends and his priests, until he left him without a survivor.

When Jehu went on from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him and said to him, "Is your heart right, as my heart is with yours?" Jehonadab answered, "It is." Jehu said "If it is, give me your hand." He gave him his hand, and Jehu pulled him up into the chariot.

And he said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD." So he had Jehonadab in his chariot.

"Now, summon unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests. Let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu did it with trickery, in order to destroy the worshipers of Baal.

Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside for himself and said, "If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, the one who lets him go shall forfeit his own life for that man's life."

But Jehu did not take care to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehu and everything that he did and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Jehu slept with his fathers [in death], and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.