Study Desk

And they said, That is not true; now give us his story. Then he said, This is what he said to me: The Lord says, I have made you king over Israel.

Then straight away everyone took his robe and put it under him on the top of the steps, and, sounding the horn, they said, Jehu is king.

So Jehu got into his carriage and went to Jezreel, for Joram was ill in bed there; and Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to see Joram.

And the watchman on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu and his band coming, and said, I see a band of people. And Joram said, Send out a horseman to them, and let him say, Is it peace?

Then Joram said, Make ready. So they made his carriage ready; and Joram, king of Israel, with Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out in their carriages for the purpose of meeting Jehu; and they came face to face with him at the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Then Joram, turning his horses in flight, said to Ahaziah, Broken faith, O Ahaziah!

Then Jehu took his bow in his hand, and with all his strength sent an arrow, wounding Joram between the arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he went down on his face in his carriage.

Then Jehu said to Bidkar, his captain, Take him up, and put him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for is not that day in your memory when you and I together on our horses were going after Ahab, his father, and the Lord put this fate on him, saying:

I saw the blood of Naboth and of his sons yesterday; and I will give you full payment in this field, says the Lord? So now, take him and put him in this field, as the Lord said.

Now when Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this, he went in flight by the way of the garden house. And Jehu came after him and said, Put him to death in the same way; and they gave him a death-wound in his carriage, on the slope up to Gur, by Ibleam; and he went in flight to Megiddo, where death came to him.

And his servants took him in a carriage to Jerusalem, and put him into the earth with his fathers in the town of David.

So they came back and gave him word of it. And he said, This is what the Lord said by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the heritage of Jezreel the flesh of Jezebel will become food for dogs;

Take the best and most upright of your master's sons, and make him king in his father's place, and put up a fight for your master's family.

You may be certain that nothing which the Lord has said about the family of Ahab will be without effect; for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.

So Jehu put to death all the rest of the seed of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his relations and his near friends and his priests, till there were no more of them.

And when he had gone away from there, he came across Jehonadab, the son of Rechab: and he said good-day to him, and said to him, Is your heart true to mine, as mine is to yours? And Jehonadab in answer said, It is; and Jehu said, If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand, and he made him come up into his carriage.

And he said, Come with me and see how I am on fire for the Lord's cause. So he made him go with him in his carriage.

Then Jehu got all the people together and said to them, Ahab was Baal's servant in a small way, but Jehu will be his servant on a great scale.

Now send for all the prophets of Baal and all his servants and all his priests, to come to me; let no one keep away: for I have a great offering to make to Baal; anyone who is not present, will be put to death. This Jehu did with deceit, his purpose being the destruction of the servants of Baal.

Then they went in to make offerings and burned offerings. Now Jehu had put eighty men outside, and said to them, If any man whom I give into your hands gets away, the life of him who lets him go will be the price of his life.