According to the accounts in 1 Kings, Jezebel was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Tyre. When she married King Ahab of Israel, she brought her own prophets of Baal and Asherah into the royal court.

She influenced Ahab to build a temple and an altar for Baal in the capital city of Samaria. She famously attempted to eliminate the prophets of God, leading to the major confrontation between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.