Jehu Is Anointed King of Israel

¹Meanwhile the prophet Elisha called one of the young prophets and said to him, “Get ready and go to Ramoth in Gilead. Take this jar of olive oil with you,

²and when you get there look for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi. Take him to a private room away from his companions,

³pour this olive oil on his head, and say, ‘The Lord proclaims that he anoints you king of Israel.’ Then leave there as fast as you can.”

⁴So the young prophet went to Ramoth,

⁵where he found the army officers in a conference. He said, “Sir, I have a message for you.” Jehu asked, “Which one of us are you speaking to?” “To you, sir,” he replied.

⁶Then the two of them went indoors, and the young prophet poured the olive oil on Jehu's head and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims: ‘I anoint you king of my people Israel.

⁷You are to kill your master the king, that son of Ahab, so that I may punish Jezebel for murdering my prophets and my other servants.

⁸All of Ahab's family and descendants are to die; I will get rid of every male in his family, young and old alike.

⁹I will treat his family as I did the families of King Jeroboam of Israel and of King Baasha of Israel.

¹⁰Jezebel will not be buried; her body will be eaten by dogs in the territory of Jezreel.’” After saying this, the young prophet left the room and fled.

¹¹Jehu went back to his fellow officers, who asked him, “Is everything all right? What did that crazy fellow want with you?” “You know what he wanted,” Jehu answered.

¹²“No we don't!” they replied. “Tell us what he said!” “He told me that the Lord proclaims: ‘I anoint you king of Israel.’”

¹³At once Jehu's fellow officers spread their cloaks at the top of the steps for Jehu to stand on, blew trumpets, and shouted, “Jehu is king!”

King Joram of Israel Is Killed

^14-15Then Jehu plotted against King Joram, who was in Jezreel, where he had gone to recover from the wounds which he had received in the battle at Ramoth against King Hazael of Syria. So Jehu said to his fellow officers, “If you are with me, make sure that no one slips out of Ramoth to go and warn the people in Jezreel.”

¹⁶Then he got into his chariot and set off for Jezreel. Joram had still not recovered, and King Ahaziah of Judah was there, visiting him.

¹⁷A guard on duty in the watchtower at Jezreel saw Jehu and his men approaching. “I see some men riding up!” he called out. Joram replied, “Send a rider to find out if they are friends or enemies.”

¹⁸The messenger rode out to Jehu and said to him, “The king wants to know if you come as a friend.” “That's none of your business!” Jehu answered. “Fall in behind me.” The guard on the watchtower reported that the messenger had reached the group but was not returning.

¹⁹Another messenger was sent out, who asked Jehu the same question. Again Jehu answered, “That's none of your business! Fall in behind me.”

²⁰Once more the guard reported that the messenger had reached the group but was not returning. And he added, “The leader of the group is driving his chariot like a madman, just like Jehu!”

²¹“Get my chariot ready,” King Joram ordered. It was done, and he and King Ahaziah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the field which had belonged to Naboth.

²²“Are you coming in peace?” Joram asked him. “How can there be peace,” Jehu answered, “when we still have all the witchcraft and idolatry that your mother Jezebel started?”

²³“It's treason, Ahaziah!” Joram cried out, as he turned his chariot around and fled.

²⁴Jehu drew his bow, and with all his strength shot an arrow that struck Joram in the back and pierced his heart. Joram fell dead in his chariot,

²⁵and Jehu said to his aide Bidkar, “Get his body and throw it in the field that belonged to Naboth. Remember that when you and I were riding together behind King Joram's father Ahab, the Lord spoke these words against Ahab:

²⁶‘I saw the murder of Naboth and his sons yesterday. And I promise that I will punish you here in this same field.’ So take Joram's body,” Jehu ordered his aide, “and throw it in the field that belonged to Naboth, so as to fulfill the Lord's promise.”

King Ahaziah of Judah Is Killed

²⁷King Ahaziah saw what happened, so he fled in his chariot toward the town of Beth Haggan, pursued by Jehu. “Kill him too!” Jehu ordered his men, and they wounded him as he drove his chariot on the road up to Gur, near the town of Ibleam. But he managed to keep on going until he reached the city of Megiddo, where he died.

²⁸His officials took his body back to Jerusalem in a chariot and buried him in the royal tombs in David's City.

²⁹Ahaziah had become king of Judah in the eleventh year that Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel.

Queen Jezebel Is Killed

³⁰Jehu arrived in Jezreel. Jezebel, having heard what had happened, put on eye shadow, arranged her hair, and stood looking down at the street from a window in the palace.

³¹As Jehu came through the gate, she called out, “You Zimri! You assassin! Why are you here?”

³²Jehu looked up and shouted, “Who is on my side?” Two or three palace officials looked down at him from a window,

³³and Jehu said to them, “Throw her down!” They threw her down, and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses. Jehu drove his horses and chariot over her body,

³⁴entered the palace, and had a meal. Only then did he say, “Take that cursed woman and bury her; after all, she is a king's daughter.”

³⁵But the men who went out to bury her found nothing except her skull and the bones of her hands and feet.

³⁶When they reported this to Jehu, he said, “This is what the Lord said would happen, when he spoke through his servant Elijah: ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel's body in the territory of Jezreel.

³⁷Her remains will be scattered there like dung, so that no one will be able to identify them.’”

God's Love for His Rebellious People

¹The Lord says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him and called him out of Egypt as my son.

²But the more I called to him, the more he turned away from me. My people sacrificed to Baal; they burned incense to idols.

³Yet I was the one who taught Israel to walk. I took my people up in my arms, but they did not acknowledge that I took care of them.

⁴I drew them to me with affection and love. I picked them up and held them to my cheek; I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵“They refuse to return to me, and so they must return to Egypt, and Assyria will rule them.

⁶War will sweep through their cities and break down the city gates. It will destroy my people because they do what they themselves think best.

⁷They insist on turning away from me. They will cry out because of the yoke that is on them, but no one will lift it from them.

⁸“How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you? Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah, or treat you as I did Zeboiim? My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong.

⁹I will not punish you in my anger; I will not destroy Israel again. For I am God and not a mere human being. I, the Holy One, am with you. I will not come to you in anger.

¹⁰“My people will follow me when I roar like a lion at their enemies. They will hurry to me from the west.

¹¹They will come from Egypt, as swiftly as birds, and from Assyria, like doves. I will bring them to their homes again. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Israel and Judah Are Condemned

¹²The Lord says, “The people of Israel have surrounded me with lies and deceit, and the people of Judah are still rebelling against me, the faithful and holy God.

¹Everything that the people of Israel do from morning to night is useless and destructive. Treachery and acts of violence increase among them. They make treaties with Assyria and do business with Egypt.”

²The Lord has an accusation to bring against the people of Judah; he is also going to punish Israel for the way her people act. He will pay them back for what they have done.

³Their ancestor Jacob struggled with his twin brother Esau while the two of them were still in their mother's womb; when Jacob grew up, he fought against God—

⁴he fought against an angel and won. He wept and asked for a blessing. And at Bethel God came to our ancestor Jacob and spoke with him.

⁵This was the Lord God Almighty—the Lord is the name by which he is to be worshiped.

⁶So now, descendants of Jacob, trust in your God and return to him. Be loyal and just, and wait patiently for your God to act.

Further Words of Judgment

⁷The Lord says, “The people of Israel are as dishonest as the Canaanites; they love to cheat their customers with false scales.

⁸‘We are rich,’ they say. ‘We've made a fortune. And no one can accuse us of getting rich dishonestly.’

⁹But I, the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt, I will make you live in tents again, as you did when I came to you in the desert.

¹⁰“I spoke to the prophets and gave them many visions, and through the prophets I gave my people warnings.

¹¹Yet idols are worshiped in Gilead, and those who worship them will die. Bulls are sacrificed in Gilgal, and the altars there will become piles of stone in the open fields.”

¹²Our ancestor Jacob had to flee to Mesopotamia, where, in order to get a wife, he worked for another man and took care of his sheep.

¹³The Lord sent a prophet to rescue the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and to take care of them.

¹⁴The people of Israel have made the Lord bitterly angry; they deserve death for their crimes. Their Lord will punish them for the disgrace they have brought on him.

Final Judgment on Israel

¹In the past, when the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the other tribes of Israel were afraid; they looked up to Ephraim. But the people sinned by worshiping Baal, and for this they will die.

²They still keep on sinning by making metal images to worship—idols of silver, designed by human minds, made by human hands. And then they say, “Offer sacrifices to them!” How can anyone kiss those idols—idols in the shape of bulls!

³And so these people will disappear like morning mist, like the dew that vanishes early in the day. They will be like chaff which the wind blows from the threshing place, like smoke from a chimney.

⁴The Lord says, “I am the Lord your God, who led you out of Egypt. You have no God but me. I alone am your savior.

⁵I took care of you in a dry, desert land.

⁶But when you entered the good land, you became full and satisfied, and then you grew proud and forgot me.

⁷So I will attack you like a lion. Like a leopard I will lie in wait along your path.

⁸I will attack you like a bear that has lost her cubs, and I will tear you open. Like a lion I will devour you on the spot, and will tear you to pieces like a wild animal.

⁹“I will destroy you, people of Israel! Then who can help you?

¹⁰You asked for a king and for leaders, but how can they save the nation?

¹¹In my anger I have given you kings, and in my fury I have taken them away.

¹²“Israel's sin and guilt are on record, and the records are safely stored away.

¹³Israel has a chance to live, but is too foolish to take it—like a child about to be born, who refuses to come out of the womb.

¹⁴I will not save this people from the world of the dead or rescue them from the power of death. Bring on your plagues, death! Bring on your destruction, world of the dead! I will no longer have pity for this people.

¹⁵Even though Israel flourishes like weeds, I will send a hot east wind from the desert, and it will dry up their springs and wells. It will take away everything of value.

¹⁶Samaria must be punished for rebelling against me. Her people will die in war; babies will be dashed to the ground, and pregnant women will be ripped open.”

Hosea's Plea to Israel

¹Return to the Lord your God, people of Israel. Your sin has made you stumble and fall.

²Return to the Lord, and let this prayer be your offering to him: “Forgive all our sins and accept our prayer, and we will praise you as we have promised.

³Assyria can never save us, and war horses cannot protect us. We will never again say to our idols that they are our God. O Lord, you show mercy to those who have no one else to turn to.”

The Lord Promises New Life for Israel

⁴The Lord says, “I will bring my people back to me. I will love them with all my heart; no longer am I angry with them.

⁵I will be to the people of Israel like rain in a dry land. They will blossom like flowers; they will be firmly rooted like the trees of Lebanon.

⁶They will be alive with new growth, and beautiful like olive trees. They will be fragrant like the cedars of Lebanon.

⁷Once again they will live under my protection. They will grow crops of grain and be fruitful like a vineyard. They will be as famous as the wine of Lebanon.

⁸The people of Israel will have nothing more to do with idols; I will answer their prayers and take care of them. Like an evergreen tree I will shelter them; I am the source of all their blessings.”

Conclusion

⁹May those who are wise understand what is written here, and may they take it to heart. The Lord's ways are right, and righteous people live by following them, but sinners stumble and fall because they ignore them.

The Complaint of Someone in Trouble

¹I praise you, God; don't remain silent!

²Wicked people and liars have attacked me. They tell lies about me,

³and they say evil things about me, attacking me for no reason.

⁴They oppose me, even though I love them and have prayed for them.

⁵They pay me back evil for good and hatred for love.

⁶Choose some corrupt judge to try my enemy, and let one of his own enemies accuse him.

⁷May he be tried and found guilty; may even his prayer be considered a crime!

⁸May his life soon be ended; may someone else take his job!

⁹May his children become orphans, and his wife a widow!

¹⁰May his children be homeless beggars; may they be driven from the ruins they live in!

¹¹May his creditors take away all his property, and may strangers get everything he worked for.

¹²May no one ever be kind to him or care for the orphans he leaves behind.

¹³May all his descendants die, and may his name be forgotten in the next generation.

¹⁴May the Lord remember the evil of his ancestors and never forgive his mother's sins.

¹⁵May the Lord always remember their sins, but may they themselves be completely forgotten!

¹⁶That man never thought of being kind; he persecuted and killed the poor, the needy, and the helpless.

¹⁷He loved to curse—may he be cursed! He hated to give blessings—may no one bless him!

¹⁸He cursed as naturally as he dressed himself; may his own curses soak into his body like water and into his bones like oil!

¹⁹May they cover him like clothes and always be around him like a belt!

²⁰Lord, punish my enemies in that way— those who say such evil things against me!

²¹But my Sovereign Lord, help me as you have promised, and rescue me because of the goodness of your love.

²²I am poor and needy; I am hurt to the depths of my heart.

²³Like an evening shadow I am about to vanish; I am blown away like an insect.

²⁴My knees are weak from lack of food; I am nothing but skin and bones.

²⁵When people see me, they laugh at me; they shake their heads in scorn.

²⁶Help me, O Lord my God; because of your constant love, save me!

²⁷Make my enemies know that you are the one who saves me.

²⁸They may curse me, but you will bless me. May my persecutors be defeated, and may I, your servant, be glad.

²⁹May my enemies be covered with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.

³⁰I will give loud thanks to the Lord; I will praise him in the assembly of the people,

³¹because he defends the poor and saves them from those who condemn them to death.