Study Desk

When Jehu went out to the servants of his master, they asked, "Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?" "You know his kind and their babble," he replied.

Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, "Jehu is king!"

Then Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

"Harness!" Joram shouted, and they harnessed his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.

And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, "Pick him up and throw him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember that when you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, the LORD lifted up this oracle against him:

'As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.' Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground."

When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, "Shoot him, too!" So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there.

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

So they went back and told Jehu, who replied, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: 'On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel.

select the best and most worthy son of your master, set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house."

Know, then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail, for the LORD has done what He promised through His servant Elijah."

So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.

Then Jehu ordered, "Take them alive." So his men took them alive, then slaughtered them at the well of Beth-eked-forty-two men. He spared none of them.

When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, "Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?" "It is!" Jehonadab replied. "If it is," said Jehu, "give me your hand." So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot,

saying, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD!" So he had him ride in his chariot.

Now, therefore, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. See that no one is missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing will not live." But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and warned them, "If anyone allows one of the men I am delivering into your hands to escape, he will forfeit his life for theirs."

Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.

As for the rest of the acts of Jehu, along with all his accomplishments and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?