Jehu Anointed King of Israel

91 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Gird up thy loins, and take this vial of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead. 2 And when thou art come thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him rise up from among his brethren, and bring him to an inner chamber; 3 then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head and say, Thus saith Jehovah: I have anointed thee king over Israel; and open the door, and flee, and tarry not. 4 And the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead. 5 And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting. And he said, I have an errand to thee, captain. And Jehu said, To which of all of us? And he said, To thee, captain. 6 And he rose up and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: I have anointed thee king over the people of Jehovah, over Israel. 7 And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master; and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah at the hand of Jezebel. 8 And the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel. 9 And I will make the house of Ahab as the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10 And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the plot of Jizreel, and none shall bury her. And he opened the door and fled.

11 And Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord. And one said to him, Is all well? why came this madman to thee? And he said to them, Ye know the man, and his mind. 12 And they said, It is false! tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spoke he to me saying, Thus saith Jehovah: I have anointed thee king over Israel. 13 Then they hasted and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the very stairs, and blew with trumpets, and said, Jehu is king!

Jehu Kills Joram

14 And Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram kept Ramoth-Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; 15 and king Joram had returned to be healed in Jizreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your will, let not a fugitive escape out of the city to go to tell [it] in Jizreel.

16 And Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jizreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. 17 And the watchman stood on the tower in Jizreel, and saw Jehu's company as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? 18 So there went one on horseback to meet him; and he said, Thus saith the king: Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told saying, The messenger came to them, and he does not return. 19 And he sent out a second on horseback; and he came to them and said, Thus saith the king: Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. 20 And the watchman told saying, He came to them, and does not return. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously. 21 Then Joram said, Make ready! And they made ready his chariot. And 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 in the plot of Naboth the Jizreelite. 22 And it came to pass when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he said, What peace, so long as the fornications of thy mother Jezebel and her sorceries are so many? 23 Then Joram turned his hand, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, Treachery, Ahaziah! 24 And Jehu took his bow in his hand, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out through his heart; and he sank down in his chariot. 25 And he said to Bidkar his captain, Take him up [and] cast him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jizreelite. For remember how, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, that Jehovah laid this burden upon him: 26 Certainly I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith Jehovah; and I will requite thee in this plot, saith Jehovah. And now, take [and] cast him into the plot, according to the word of Jehovah.

Jehu Kills Ahaziah

27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw [that], he fled by the way of the garden-house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in his chariot. It was on the ascent of Gur, which is by Jibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. 28 And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. 29 (And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab had Ahaziah begun to reign over Judah.)

The Death of Jezebel

30 And Jehu came to Jizreel; and Jezebel heard of it, and she put paint to her eyes, and decked her head, and looked out at the window. 31 And when Jehu came in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his master? 32 And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And two or three chamberlains looked out to him. 33 And he said, Throw her down! And they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses; and he trampled on her. 34 And he came in, and ate and drank; and he said, Go, look, I pray you, after this cursed [woman], and bury her; for she is a king's daughter. 35 And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands. 36 And they came back and told him. And he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite saying, In the plot of Jizreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; 37 and the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the open field in the plot of Jizreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.

Jehu Destroys the House of Ahab

101 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the princes of Jizreel, to the elders, and to Ahab's guardians, saying, 2 And now, when this letter comes to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots, and horses, and a fortified city, and armour, 3 look out the best and worthiest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house. 4 And they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, the two kings stood not before him; and how shall we stand? 5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, and the elders, and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any one king; do what is good in thy sight. 6 And he wrote a letter the second time to them saying, If ye are mine, and will hearken to my voice, take the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jizreel to-morrow at this time. Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. 7 And it came to pass when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slaughtered seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jizreel. 8 And a messenger came and told him saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning. 9 And it came to pass in the morning that he went out; and he stood, and said to all the people, Ye are righteous! behold, I conspired against my master and killed him; but who smote all these? 10 Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of Jehovah, which Jehovah spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for Jehovah has done that which he said through his servant Elijah. 11 And Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jizreel, and all his great men, and his acquaintances, and his priests, until he left him none remaining. 12 And he rose up and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shepherds' meeting-place on the way, 13 Jehu found the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they said, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and have come down to salute the children of the king, and the children of the queen. 14 And he said, Take them alive! And they took them alive, and slew them at the well of the meeting-place, forty-two men; and he left not one of them remaining.

15 And he departed thence, and found Jehonadab the son of Rechab [coming] to meet him; and he greeted him, and said to him, Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab said, It is.—If it be, give [me] thy hand.—And he gave [him] his hand; and [Jehu] took him up to him into the chariot, 16 and said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah. So they made him ride in his chariot. 17 And he came to Samaria, and smote all that remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Jehovah which he spoke to Elijah.

Jehu Wipes Out the Worship of Baal

18 And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little: Jehu will serve him much. 19 And now call me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting; for I have a great sacrifice [to do] to Baal; whoever shall be wanting shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, in order that he might bring destruction upon the servants of Baal. 20 And Jehu said, Hallow a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed [it]. 21 And Jehu sent into all Israel; and all the servants of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not: and they entered into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to the other. 22 And he said to him that was over the wardrobe, Bring forth vestments for all the servants of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments. 23 And Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Rechab entered into the house of Baal, and said to the servants of Baal, Search, and see that there be here with you none of the servants of Jehovah, but the servants of Baal only. 24 And they entered in to offer sacrifices and burnt-offerings. Now Jehu appointed eighty men without, and said, He that allows any of the men to escape that I have brought into your hands, his life shall be for the life of him. 25 And it came to pass as soon as they had ended offering up the burnt-offering, that Jehu said to the couriers and to the captains, Go in, slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the couriers and the captains cast [them] there. And they went to the city of the house of Baal, 26 and brought forth the columns out of the house of Baal, and burned them; 27 and they broke down the column of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a draught-house to this day. 28 Thus Jehu extirpated Baal out of Israel.

29 Only, the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, from them Jehu departed not: [from] the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. 30 And Jehovah said to Jehu, Because thou hast executed well that which is right in my sight, [and] hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, thy children of the fourth [generation] shall sit on the throne of Israel. 31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Jehovah the God of Israel with all his heart; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin. 32 In those days Jehovah began to cut Israel short; and Hazael smote them in all the borders of Israel; 33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, both Gilead and Bashan. 34 And the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 35 And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria: and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. 36 Now the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Athaliah Usurps the Throne

111 And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose up and destroyed all the royal seed. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, [and hid] him and his nurse in the bedchamber; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. 3 And he was with her hid in the house of Jehovah six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land.

4 And in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains of the hundreds, of the bodyguard and the couriers, and brought them to him into the house of Jehovah, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of Jehovah, and shewed them the king's son. 5 And he commanded them saying, This is the thing which ye shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house; 6 and a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the couriers; and ye shall keep the watch of the house for a defence. 7 And the two parts of you, all those that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of Jehovah about the king. 8 And ye shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he that comes within the ranks shall be put to death; and ye shall be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in. 9 And the captains of the hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go forth on the sabbath, and they came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 And the priest gave to the captains of the hundreds king David's spears and shields which were in the house of Jehovah. 11 And the couriers stood by the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, toward the altar and the house. 12 And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and [gave him] the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, Long live the king!

13 And Athaliah heard the noise of the couriers [and] of the people; and she came to the people into the house of Jehovah. 14 And she looked, and behold, the king stood on the dais, according to the custom, and the princes and the trumpeters were by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets. And Athaliah rent her garments and cried, Conspiracy! Conspiracy! 15 And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds that were set over the host, and said to them, Lead her forth without the ranks; and whosoever follows her, slay with the sword; for the priest said, Let her not be put to death in the house of Jehovah. 16 And they made way for her, and she went by the way by which the horses entered the king's house, and there was she put to death.

17 And Jehoiada made a covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people, that they should be the people of Jehovah; and between the king and the people. 18 Then all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and broke it down: his altars and his images they broke in pieces completely, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Jehovah. 19 And he took the captains of the hundreds, and the bodyguard, and the couriers, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of Jehovah, and came by the way through the gate of the couriers into the king's house. And he sat upon the throne of the kings. 20 And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they had slain Athaliah with the sword [beside] the king's house. 21 Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.