Jehu in the Bible

The word of Yahweh came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

Moreover by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of Yahweh against Baasha, and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him.

Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,

You shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.

It shall happen, that he who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.

Go there and look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi. Go, for you must cause him to arise from among his brothers, and you must bring him into an {inner room}.

He came, and look, the commanders of the army [were] sitting [there]. He said, "I have a word for you, O commander!" Jehu said, "For whom? For all of us?" And he said, "For you, O commander!"

So Jehu got up and went inside. Then the prophet poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, "This is what the Lord God of Israel says, 'I have designated you as king over the Lord's people Israel.

Then Jehu came out to the officers of his master, and they said to him, "Peace? Why did this madman come to you?" And he said to them, "You know the man and his foolish talk."

But they replied, “That’s a lie! Tell us!”

So Jehu said, “He talked to me about this and that and said, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

So they hastened each one to take his cloak, and they spread [them] under him on the bare steps, blew on the trumpet, and said, "Jehu is king!"

So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram was keeping guard in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the {threat} of Hazael king of Aram.

But Joram the king had returned to heal in Jezreel from the wound which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, "{If this is what you want}, do not let him go out as a fugitive from the city to go to make it known in Jezreel."

Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram [was] lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to visit Joram.

Now the watchman [was] standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu when he came, and he said, "I see a company." Joram said, "Take a horseman and send [him] to meet them." And he said, "Is it peace?"

So the rider of the horse went out to meet him, and he said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." Then the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger went up to them, but he did not return."

Then he sent out a second horseman, and he came to them and said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me."

So the sentinel reported, saying, "He went up to them, but he did not return, and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness."

Then Joram said, "Get ready," so he got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel went out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each with his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu, and they found him at the tract of land of Naboth the Jezreelite.

When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, "[Is it] peace?" And he said, "What peace [is there] while the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are numerous?"

Then Jehu {drew his bow} and shot Joram between his shoulders so that the arrow went out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.

Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, "Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh laid this burden on him:

When Ahaziah king of Judah saw, he fled the way of Beth-Haggen. Jehu pursued after him and said, "Shoot him also, in the chariot." [They shot him] at the ascent of Gur which [is] in Ibleam, and he fled [to] Megiddo, but he died there.

When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard [of it], so she painted her eyes with black eye paint and adorned her head and looked through the window.

Now Jehu had come in the gate, so she said, "[Is it] peace, O Zimri, murderer of his master?"

Jehu looked up toward the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" When two or three eunuchs looked out at him,

He said, "Throw her down!" So they threw her down, and when she hit the ground, her blood splattered against the wall and the horses, and Jehu drove his chariot over her.

So they did, and her blood splashed against the wall and on the horses, while Jehu trampled her underfoot. Later on, after he had come in to eat and drink, he ordered, "Go and see to this cursed woman, and bury her, because she was a king's daughter."

So they returned and reported to Jehu, and he responded, "This fulfills this message from the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the foreigner, who said:

Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote letters, and he sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab, saying,

But they were too terrified, and so they told one another, "Look! Two previous kings couldn't stand up to Jehu, so how can we?"

So whoever was over the house, and whoever was over the city, and the elders and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, "We [are] your servants; all that you say to us, we shall do. We shall not make anyone a king. Do [what] is good in your eyes."

Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying:

If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, bring me the heads of your master’s sons at this time tomorrow at Jezreel.

All 70 of the king’s sons were being cared for by the city’s prominent men.

When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered all 70, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

The messenger came and told Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons." Jehu said, "Stack them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning."

Jehu replied, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning." The next morning, Jehu went out, stood still, and announced to all the people: "Are you righteous? I conspired against my master and killed him, but who slaughtered all of these?

Then Jehu killed all of the remainder of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all of his leaders, his close friends, and his priests, until there was no survivor left for him.

Jehu then left there and set out for Samaria. While he was traveling through Beth Eked of the Shepherds,

and Jehu met the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah. He asked, "Who [are] you?" They said, "We [are] the brothers of Ahaziah; we came down for the peace of the king's children and the children of the queen."

Then Jehu ordered, “Take them alive.” So they took them alive and then slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked—42 men. He didn’t spare any of them.

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,

Jehu said, "Come with me and see how zealous I am for the Lord's cause." So he took him along in his chariot.

When Jehu came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained from the house of Ahab in Samaria until he had annihilated his house, according to the word of the Lord spoken to Elijah.

Then Jehu assembled all of the people and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will worship him greatly.

So then, summon to me all of the prophets of Baal and all of his servants and his priests; no man should fail to come, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come shall not live!" Now Jehu was acting with cunning in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

Then Jehu said, "Sanctify a [solemn] assembly for Baal!" So they proclaimed [it].

Jehu sent [word] through all of Israel, and all of the servants of Baal came; there did not remain a man who did not come. They came to the house of Baal so that the house of Baal was filled from {wall to wall}.

Jehu ordered the one who was in charge of the wardrobe, "Bring out robes for all the servants of Baal." So he brought out robes for them.

Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Recab came [to] the temple of Baal, and he said to the servants of Baal, "Search and see that there is none of the servants of Yahweh here with you; only those who serve Baal."

They came to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he said, "The man who lets [anyone] escape from the men who I am {entrusting to you}, {he will pay with his life}!"

It happened that when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the royal guard and to the officers, "Come and kill them; let no man go free!" So {they put them to the sword}, and the royal guard and the officers threw them out, then they went up to the citadel of the temple of Baal.

So Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel.

Only Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat [by] which he caused Israel to sin; [namely,] the calf-shaped idols of gold which [were in] Bethel and Dan.

Yahweh said to Jehu, "Because you have done well by doing right in my eyes and you have done to the house of Ahab according to all that [was] in my heart; [therefore,] sons of the fourth generation will sit for you on the throne of Israel."

But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of Yahweh God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam [by] which he caused Israel to sin.

Now the remainder of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all of his powerful [deeds, are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

So Jehu slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.

Now the days which Jehu had reigned over Israel [were] twenty-eight years in Samaria.

In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned in Jerusalem forty years, and the name of his mother [was] Zibiah from Beersheba.

In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, [reigning] seventeen years.

Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, "Come let us meet {face-to-face}."

This is the word of Yahweh which he spoke to Jehu, saying, "Sons of a fourth [generation] shall sit for you on the throne of Israel," and it was so.

And Obed fathered Jehu, and Jehu fathered Azariah.

and Jehu begat Azariah, and Azariah begat Helez, and Helez begat Eleasah,

and Joel, and Jehu the son of Josibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel,

The leader [was] Ahiezer, then Jehoash, sons of Shemaah the Gibeonite; Jeiel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite;

And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath came upon you from the LORD.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.

And the downfall of Ahaziah was of God by his coming to Joram: for when he had come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he killed them.

And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he had hid in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, they said, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the kingdom.

Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.

And Jehovah said unto him, Call his name Jizreel; for yet a little, and I will visit the blood of Jizreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.