2 Kings 9

¹ Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. ² When you come there, look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi. Go in, and cause him to rise up from among his brothers, and bring him into an inner room. ³ Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘Yahweh says, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door, flee, and don’t wait.”

⁴ So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. ⁵ When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting; and he said, “I have a message for you, captain.” Jehu said, “To which of us all?” He said, “To you, O captain.” ⁶ He arose, and went into the house. He poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have anointed you king over Yahweh’s people, even over Israel. ⁷ You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all Yahweh’s servants, at the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ For the whole house of Ahab shall perish. I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against the wall, him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. ⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.’” He opened the door, and fled.

¹¹ Then Jehu came out to the servants of his lord; and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and what his talk was.” ¹² They said, “That is false. Tell us now.” He said, “He said to me, ‘Yahweh says, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’”

¹³ Then they hurried, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, “Jehu is king.”

¹⁴ So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram was keeping Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; ¹⁵ but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. Jehu said, “If this is your mind, then let no one escape and go out of the city, to go to tell it in Jezreel.”

¹⁶ So Jehu rode, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.

¹⁷ Now the watchman who stood on the tower in Jezreel saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.” 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 said, “The king says, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Turn around, and follow me.” The watchman told, saying, “The messenger came to them, but he doesn’t come back.”

¹⁹ Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, “The king says, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu answered, “What have you to do with peace? Turn around, and follow me.” ²⁰ The watchman told, saying, “He came even to them, and doesn’t come back; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously.”

²¹ Joram said, “Prepare the chariot.” They prepared his chariot. 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 portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.

²² It happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” ²³ Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “There is treachery, O Ahaziah!”

²⁴ Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. ²⁵ Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Take him up, and throw him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh pronounced this burden against him: ²⁶ ‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,’ says Yahweh; ‘and I will repay you in this plot,’ says Yahweh. Now therefore take and throw him into the plot of ground, according to Yahweh’s word.”

²⁷ But when Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, “Strike him also in the chariot.” They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there. ²⁸ His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in David’s city.

²⁹ In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

³⁰ When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. She painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out at the window. ³¹ As Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, “Is it peace, you Zimri, your master’s murderer?” ³² He lifted up his face to the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. ³³ He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses; and he trampled her under foot.

³⁴ When he had come in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “Please look after this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.” ³⁵ They went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, “This is Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; ³⁷ and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung on the surface of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, “This is Jezebel.”’”