2 Kings 9

1Elisha the prophet called one of the company of prophets and said to him, “Tuck your robe into your belt, take this flask of oil with you, and go to Ramoth-gilead.

2When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his companions, and take him into an inner room.

3Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘This is what Yahweh says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run. Do not wait.”

4So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.

5When he arrived, the commanders of the army were sitting together. He said, “I have a message for you, commander.” Jehu said, “For which of us?” He said, “For you, commander.”

6So Jehu got up and went into the house, and the young man poured the oil on his head and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: I anoint you king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel.

7You are to strike down the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh shed by Jezebel.

8The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, whether slave or free.

9I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.

10As for Jezebel, the dogs will eat her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and ran.

11When Jehu came out to his master’s officers, one of them said to him, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.”

12They said, “That is a lie! Tell us.” He said, “This is what he said to me: ‘This is what Yahweh says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

13Then they quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. They blew the ram’s horn and shouted, “Jehu is king!”

14So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,

15but King Jehoram had gone back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had given him when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, “If this is what you want, do not let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.”

16Then Jehu got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was lying there. Ahaziah king of Judah had also gone down to see Joram.

17The lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops coming and said, “I see troops coming.” Jehoram said, “Get a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’”

18So a horseman rode out to meet him and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’” Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” The lookout reported, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”

19So the king sent out a second horseman. He came to them and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’” Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

20The lookout reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. The driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives like a madman.”

21Jehoram said, “Hitch up the horses.” When his chariot was hitched up, Jehoram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.

22When Jehoram saw Jehu, he said, “Do you come in peace, Jehu?” He answered, “How can there be peace as long as the prostitution and the many sorceries of your mother Jezebel continue?”

23Jehoram turned his chariot around and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treason, Ahaziah!”

24Then Jehu drew his bow with all his strength and shot Jehoram between the shoulders. The arrow went through his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.

25Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Pick him up and throw him onto the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding side by side behind Ahab his father, when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him:

26‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares Yahweh, and I will repay you on this very plot of ground, declares Yahweh.’ So now pick him up and throw him onto that plot, according to the word of Yahweh.”

27When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the road to Beth-haggan. Jehu chased him and said, “Shoot him too!” They shot him in his chariot on the ascent to Gur, near Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there.

28His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David.

29Ahaziah had become king over Judah in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab.

30Then Jehu came to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair, and looked down from the window.

31As Jehu came in through the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?”

32He looked up at the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

33He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her.

34Then he went in and ate and drank. He said, “Take care of that cursed woman and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.”

35But when they went to bury her, they found nothing of her except her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.

36They came back and told him, and he said, “This is the word of Yahweh that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will eat Jezebel’s flesh,

37and Jezebel’s corpse will be like dung on the open field in the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, “This is Jezebel.”’”