Person Old and New Testament
Jezebel
Queen Jezebel, the Phoenician wife of King Ahab, promoted Baal worship and persecuted the prophets of God. Mentioned in 20 verses across 3 books, first at 1 Kings 16:31.
Why it matters. Queen of Israel; wife of King Ahab
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Jezebel
Jezebel was the Phoenician princess who became the wife of King Ahab of Israel (1Ki.16.31). She zealously promoted the worship of the Canaanite god Baal and persecuted the prophets of the Lord (1Ki.18.4,13,19). Her conflict with the prophet Elijah is notably recorded in 1Kings 18-19, where Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal and Jezebel threatens Elijah's life.
Jezebel's wickedness is further demonstrated in her plot to have Naboth killed so that Ahab could seize his vineyard (1Ki.21). Her actions led to divine judgment, as pronounced by Elijah (1Ki.21.23).
Years later, during the reign of Ahab's son Joram, Jezebel met her demise as prophesied. Jehu, anointed as king of Israel, had her thrown from a window, and her body was consumed by dogs, fulfilling Elijah's prophecy (2Ki.9.30-37).
In Rev.2.20, the name "Jezebel" is used symbolically to describe a false prophetess who led people astray in the church of Thyatira, drawing a parallel to the idolatry and immorality promoted by Ahab's queen.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 20 verses across 3 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.